Canada grounded the world's third largest fleet of Boeing 737 MAX 8 jetliners, or 41 planes operated by three Canadian carriers, and banned the aircraft from its airspace Wednesday. "As a result of new data that we received this morning, and had the chance to analyze, and on the advice of my experts and as a precautionary measure, I issued a safety notice," Transport Minister Marc Garneau told a press conference.
"This safety notice restricts commercial passenger flights from any operator of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 or MAX 9 variant aircraft, whether domestic or foreign, from arriving, departing or overflying Canadian air space. This safety notice is effective immediately and will remain in place until further notice."
More than 370 of the 737 MAX 8s are in service around the world, including 41 in Canada operated by Air Canada, Westjet and charter tours firm Sunwing. "There is going to be some disruptions," Garneau said. "But caution has to dominate."
His announcement comes after Australia, China, India, all European countries and others banned the medium-haul workhorse jet from their airspace in response to the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board, including 18 Canadians.
The Nairobi-bound plane was the same type as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in October, killing 189 passengers and crew - and some officials have detected similarities between the two accidents.
Garneau said he made his decision after reviewing "validated satellite tracking data suggesting a possible, although unproven, similarity in the flight profile of the Lion Air aircraft." "I caution that it is new information that is not conclusive and we must await further evidence, hopefully from the voice and data recorders," he added.
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