India grounds Boeing 737 MAX aircraft after Ethiopian Airlines crash: Here's a list of countries that have put the plane on ice

India is the latest entrant to the list of countries that have grounded Boeing 737 Max aircraft following Sunday's crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 which crashed six minutes after take-off from the Ethiopian capital of Adis Ababa.

Late on Tuesday night, DGCA said it had taken the decision to ground Boeing 737-MAX planes immediately. "These planes will be grounded till appropriate modifications and safety measures are undertaken to ensure their safe operations," the Ministry of Civil Aviation tweeted. The ban will be enforced starting 1600 hrs India time on Wednesday.

The Ethiopian Boeing 737 Max plane was new. In October, a Lion Air flight plunged into the Java Sea off Indonesia shortly after take-off killing all 189 passengers and crew on board. The crash is still being investigated but both these accidents involved the Boeing 737 Max planes. In fact the US aircraft manufacturer has delivered more than 200 737 MAXs since May 2017, news reports said.

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The following is a list of countries that have banned Boeing 737 Max aircraft:

Austria: It decided to ground Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for security reasons until further notice, its transport minister said on Tuesday. “Safety is the top priority in aviation,” said Norbert Hofer in a statement, adding that the measure was aimed at protecting passengers, pilots and crew members.

Australia: Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority said on Tuesday it had temporarily suspended the operation of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to or from the country. While no Australian airlines currently use the aircraft, two foreign airlines fly them in Australian airspace.

Belgium:  Belgium closed down its air space for Boeing 737 MAX planes, the country's news agency Belga quoted transport minister Francois Bellot as saying on Tuesday after the Sunday's deadly plane crash in Ethiopia.

Bermuda: After Sunday's Boeing 737 Max air crash, Bermuda has prohibited Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9 aircraft from its airspace, the British overseas territory’s aviation authority said on Tuesday.

Representational image. Reuters

Cayman Airways: The airline has suspended operations of its two new Boeing 737 Max 8 planes. Cayman Airways CEO Fabian Whorms said on Monday, "While the cause of this sad loss is undetermined at this time, we stand by our commitment to putting the safety of our passengers and crew first by maintaining complete and undoubtable safe operations."

China: On Sunday, China's aviation regulator, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) ordered Chinese airlines  to ground all Boeing 737 Max planes. It has 96 Max aircraft, news reports said.

EU suspends Boeing 737-Max planes: EU aviation safety agency said on Tuesday it was closing European airspace to Boeing 737 MAX aircraft after two fatal crashes of the model within five months.

"EASA has decided to suspend all flight operations of the two affected models," the agency said. It noted that the "exact causes" of a crash of a 737 MAX aircraft operated by Indonesian airline Lion Air in October for the loss of 189 lives were still being investigated. "Based on all available information, EASA considers that further actions may be necessary to ensure the continued airworthiness of the two affected models," it said in a statement.

France: The director general of aviation, France's civil aviation authority on Tuesday banned Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from French airspace.

Germany: Air safety authority DFS said on Tuesday that both Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 models will be barred from the country’s air space until 12 June. TUI Group, the largest leisure, travel and tourism company in the world, said it was discontinuing all Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights across all airlines of the group. The DFS said that aircraft which were still in the air when the ban came into effect at 1730 GMT were allowed to land.

Indonesia: The director general of aviation of Indonesia said on Monday it will temporarily ground Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft operating in the country for inspection.

Iceland: The government decided t0 ground all its Boeing 737 Max 8 planes for the foreseeable future, news reports said on Tuesday. The country has three such aircraft.

Italy: The government has closed its airspace to Boeing 737 Max 8 airliners from Tuesday night.

Ireland: The Irish Aviation Authority is temporarily suspending the operation of all variants of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Irish airspace with immediate effect from Tuesday.

Mexico: Mexican airline Aero Mexico said on Monday it had suspended the operation of its six Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes until it had clear information about the investigation into the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet on Sunday. “Flights operated with these planes will be covered by the rest of the fleet,” Aeromexico said in a statement.

Morocco: National carrier Royal Air Maroc has temporarily grounded a Boeing 737 MAX 8 following the fatal crash of the same type of aircraft in Ethiopia, an official said on Monday.

Mongolia: Civil Aviation Authority ordered the national air carrier MIAT to temporarily suspend its Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft operations from Monday.

Oman: On Tuesday, Oman stopped Boeing Co 737 MAX aircraft from flying to or from the Sultanate, following a fatal crash involving the US planemaker’s latest model in Ethiopia.
The Public Authority for Civil Aviation “is temporarily suspending operations of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into and out of all Omani airports until further notice,” it said in a tweet.

Poland: The country closed its airspace to Boeing 737 Max 8 airliners from Tuesday evening and grounded its own fleet of the planes.

Russia: Russia's S7 Airlines said it would start grounding Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes from Wednesday. It had only two such planes in Russia.

Singapore: Civil Aviation Authority has temporarily suspended the Boeing 737 Max fleet of aircraft from flying into and out of the country. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore barred any Boeing 737 Max flight in and out of the city-state, including Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s SilkAir, China Southern Airlines Co., PT Garuda Indonesia and Shandong Airlines Co.

South Africa: COMAIR, the South African airline said that it would remove 737 MAX 8 jets from its schedule on Monday. It has ordered eight aircraft of this type but has only received one so far.

South Korea: The government is conducting an emergency inspection on Eastar Jet’s two MAX 8 jets, a ministry official said. The South Korean budget carrier would temporarily ground its two 737 MAX 8s from Wednesday, an airline spokesman said on Tuesday.

Switzerland: Swiss authorities said they had also banned the 737 MAX 8aircraft, following the EU decision on Tuesday, as did several countries in the Asia Pacific region

Netherlands: On Tuesday, The government has ordered its airspace closed for Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, press agency ANP reported, citing the country’s transportation minister.

Norway:  Norway closed its airspace to all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes, the head of its civil aviation authority, Lars Kobberstad, told NRK public radio on Tuesday.

UAE: The General Civil Aviation Authority has banned operation of Boeing 737 MAX models as a precautionary measure from 13 March, Emirates News Agency said.

United Kingdom: On Tuesday, Britain suspended flights of the 737 MAX aircraft over its territory. “We have, as a precautionary measure, issued instructions to stop any commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing or overflying UK airspace,” the UK Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

Turkey: Turkish Airlines has grounded all commercial flights by its Boeing 737 MAX models as of 13 March until uncertainty over their safety is resolved.

Several countries are still evaluating decision to suspend Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Among them are:

Argentina: State-run news agency, Telam said Argentina and other South American nations are evaluating closing their airspace to 737 MAX airplanes, news reports said on Tuesday.

Brazil: Air travel regulator said it was not grounding the aircraft and that it was following the investigation.

Canada: Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Canada has no plans to ground 737 MAX aircraft but is ready to act immediately to suspend flights if new information emerges indicating there is a problem. “We have operated this aircraft type since 2017 and currently have 24 in our fleet. These aircraft have performed excellently from a safety, reliability and customer satisfaction perspective.”

Fiji: Fiji Airways, the airline, which operates 2 MAX 8 planes, said it was confident in the jet.

Vietnam: Bamboo Airways, the Vietnamese airline, which announced last month it was in talks to buy 25 Boeing 737 planes, declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the US aviation regulator said on Tuesday it would not ground Boeing Co 737 MAX planes after a crash in Ethiopia that killed 157 people, bucking a trend of countries around the world that have suspended the aircraft’s operations.  The three US airlines using the 737 MAX - Southwest Airlines Co, American Airlines Group Inc and United Airlines - stood by the aircraft, although many potential passengers took to social media to express concerns, asking if they could change flights or cancel.

Southwest Airlines uses a fleet of 34 Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft and is not planning any change in service. Likewise, American Airlines, which operates 24 of the planes, is not planning to ground them.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s acting administrator, Dan Elwell, said a review by the body “shows no systemic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding the aircraft.”

Elwell said no foreign civil aviation authorities had provided data that would warrant action. If any safety issues are identified during an ongoing urgent review of the Ethiopian Airlines crash, the FAA will “take immediate and appropriate action,” he said.

With inputs from Reuters