Some 350 Boeing 737 MAX 8s are in operation around the world © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File / STEPHEN BRASHEAR
Muscat, Oman, Mar 12 – Oman on Tuesday suspended takeoffs and landings by Boeing 737 MAX planes at its airports, said its aviation authority, making it the latest country to do so after a deadly crash in Ethiopia.
Muscat’s 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 statement on Twitter.
On Sunday a new Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.
That came after a Lion Air 737 crashed in Indonesia in October, killing 189.
Oman’s national carrier, Oman Air, has five Boeing MAX aircraft in its fleet, according to the airline’s website.
The sultanate is the first Gulf country to suspend flights by the aircraft following Sunday’s crash.
Dubai’s budget carrier flydubai said on Monday that it was “monitoring the situation” and it was “confident in the airworthiness of our fleet”.
Oman and Malaysia on Tuesday became the latest countries to suspend operations of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, following South Korea, Singapore, China and Indonesia.
Australia has barred all 737 MAX planes from its airspace, while US authorities ordered Boeing to improve anti-stalling software and the model’s manoeuvring system.
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