More Boeings grounded amid global probe into Ethiopia crash

A growing number of airlines grounded a new Boeing plane involved in the Ethiopian Airlines disaster as a global team of investigators began picking through the rural crash site on Tuesday.

Some airlines cited worried customers for grounding the Boeing 737 Max 8, as experts chased details on why the plane crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday, killing all 157 on board. Answers could take months.

Following China's announcement to ground nearly 100 Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft on Monday, countries including UK, Germany, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, and Australia all took similar moves on Tuesday.

The UK civil aviation authority became one of the latest to have issued a temporary ban on Boeing 737 Max 8 planes from arriving, departing or overflying the country.

Germany's Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer told media Tuesday that "Until all doubts have been dispelled, I have ordered that the German airspace is closed for the Boeing 737 Max as of now."

Malaysia has suspended all Boeing 737 MAX operations flying to and from the Asian nation and from crossing its air space until further notice, the Malaysian civil aviation authority said on Tuesday.

South Korean airline Eastar Jet said it will suspend operations of its two Boeing 737 Max 8 planes. Australia and Singapore suspended all flights into or out of their countries.

Boeing, however, has said it has no reason to pull the popular aircraft from the skies, and it does not intend to issue new recommendations about the aircraft to customers. Its technical team joined American, Israeli and other aviation experts in the investigation led by Ethiopian authorities.

The US Federal Aviation Administration said it expects Boeing will soon complete improvements to an automated anti-stall system suspected of contributing to the deadly crash of another new Boeing 737 Max 8 in October, and update training requirements and related flight crew manuals.

The Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in clear weather six minutes after taking off for Nairobi.

All 157 people on board the aircraft from Addis Ababa to Nairobi died, including eight Chinese nationals and dozens of humanitarian workers.

AP/chinadaily.com.cn