Iran Shuts Down Airspace to Boeing 737 MAX Planes - Reports

13:37 GMT, 15 March 2019

CC BY-SA 2.0 / pjs2005 / Boeing 737-8 MAX N8704Q rotated

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Tehran has closed its airspace to Boeing 737 MAX jets in the wake of Sunday's tragedy involving an Ethiopian Airlines plane of the same model that crashed and killed everyone on board, Reza Jafarzadeh, head of public relations at Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said on Friday.

Sputnik

"Iran Civil Aviation Organization has issued a ban on the passage of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft through Iran’s skies," Jafarzadeh told the Fars news agency.

None of Iran's airlines have the Boeing 737 MAX jets in their fleets.

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Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, has recently come under fire following two fatal crashes that involved its brand new 737 MAX 8 jets, which entered into service less than two years ago. The first crash happened in late October 2018 and involved a jet operated by Indonesia's Lion Air. The plane had crashed into the Java Sea shortly after taking off, claiming the lives of 189 people.

The tragedy happened on Sunday when a Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines plane also crashed minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board.

After the tragic incident, many airlines across the globe started to ground their 737 MAX planes. EU states, China, Russia and many others have issued a ban on the aircraft.

Boeing still insists that it has "full confidence in the safety" of its aircraft. On Wednesday, however, the aerospace giant recommended to the US Federal Aviation Administration "the temporary suspension of operations of the entire global fleet" of 737 MAX aircraft.