India Bans Entry, Transit of Boeing 737 Max 8 from Its Airspace

06:06 GMT, 13 March 2019

CC BY 2.0 / Aka The Beav / Boeing 737 MAX roll-out

After an Ethiopian Airlines air crash on Sunday involving a Boeing plane, India adopted a graded action plan beginning with talks with the company and airlines having these planes in their fleet. India's response has escalated into the grounding of all planes of this model and culminated in an outright ban on them from the country’s airspace.

Sputnik

New Delhi (Sputnik): The Indian government has banned all transit and overflights of Boeing 737 Max 8 in its airspace. The decision was taken within hours of the decision to ground all planes belonging to this particular model operating in fleets on Indian carriers.

"Boeing 737 Max operations will stop from/to all Indian airports. Additionally no Boeing 737 Max aircraft will be allowed to enter or transit the Indian airspace effective 1600hrs (Indian Standard Time) or 1030 UTC", India's Ministry of Civil Aviation tweeted.

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The timeline leeway has been given to cater to situations where aircraft currently in flight or at airports can move to maintenance facilities and where international flights can reach their destinations, the ministry further added.

After massive public pressure, the ministry ordered the grounding of all Boeing 737 Max aircraft operated by Indian carriers such as Spicejet and Jet Airways beginning Wednesday 16:00 IST. Among Indian carriers, SpiceJet has 13 of the model in its 75-strong fleet while Jet Airways has five.

Earlier on Monday, the civil aviation regulator had adopted a moderate approach and directed Indian carriers to ensure that pilots have 1,000 hours and co-pilots 500 hours of flying experience on the Boeing 737 MAX 8.