South Korea Closes Airspace to All Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft After Deadly Crash

12:38 GMT, 15 March 2019

TOKYO (Sputnik) - The South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) to inform pilots and airline operators of its decision to ban all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from South Korean airspace for three months, Yonhap reported on Friday, citing the ministry.

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"The NOTAM notice will restrict any entry of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Korean airspace until further notice from the aviation authorities," the ministry said, as quoted by South Korean news agency Yonhap.

South Korea joins over 50 other nations in placing restrictions on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 carriers after a plane of that model crashed in Ethiopia on Sunday killing all 157 people on board. Although unconfirmed, media reports have raised questions of whether Sunday's tragic accident was similar to another 737 MAX plane crash in October in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.

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A further investigation is being launched into the reasons behind both Sunday's and October's crashes. On Thursday, the black box from the most recent accident arrived at a laboratory in France to be analysed for the possible causes behind the crash.

Meanwhile, Boeing's stock prices, one of the United States' largest exporters, have plummeted over 10 percent since the crash in Ethiopia and the company is facing major international criticism over the supposed technical unreliability of the 737 MAX carriers.