Questions remain after Boeing crashes

Safety review

In Washington, Peter DeFazio, a Democrat member of Congress from Oregon and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has indicated that he plans to investigate the FAA's actions, including the pending hardware and software updates, safety standards and aircraft certification.

On Tuesday, US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao asked the department's inspector-general to conduct an "objective review and detailed factual history of the activities that resulted in the certification of the Boeing 737 MAX" to be certain that the "FAA is ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively".

Regulators in Canada and Europe said they will review the FAA's initial safety approval for the aircraft. In the past, foreign buyers of US-built aircraft have accepted the FAA's certification.

Chao's action follows an independent investigation reportedly launched by the US Justice Department, which is apparently proceeding on both civil and criminal lines.

A grand jury in Washington issued a subpoena on March 11 seeking information on the development of the MAX 8, related documents and relevant correspondence, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Citing "people familiar with the matter", the newspaper said the subpoena seeking documents listed a prosecutor from the Justice Department's criminal division as a contact, not the FAA.

Boeing and the Justice Department declined to comment. The FAA did not return calls from China Daily.

Airline accidents occur at the rate of 0.0035 per 1.60 million kilometers flown. US travelers have a 1 in 9,821 chance of dying in an air crash compared with a 1 in 114 chance of being killed in an auto accident, according to the National Safety Council.

The most recent fatal aviation accident in the US occurred in February 2009, when a plane crashed in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board. Since then, US airlines have transported about 8 billion passengers without a fatal crash.

Boeing's 737 MAX is the latest update of its popular, single-aisle, twin-engine aircraft. The fuel-efficient plane has a range of 5,594 to 7,084 kilometers. It is offered in four lengths, and seats 138 to 230 passengers. The aircraft is flown by airlines worldwide, including Air China, China Southern, Air Canada, Norwegian Air, FlyDubai, AeroMexico and Turkish Airlines. In the US, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines fly the plane.

The 737 MAX is Boeing's fastest-selling jet, accounting for about 80 percent of its total reserve orders, according to the manufacturer.

Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and columnist at Carnoc, a Chinese civil aviation website, said, "There are 96 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operating in China, accounting for 2.7 percent of the total fleet.

"Many Chinese airlines have canceled some of their flights that were due to be operated by the 737 MAX, as there were no other aircraft available.

"Once a plane has been grounded, an airline needs to pay for aircraft maintenance, depreciation costs, and parking fees."

In addition to the three major State-owned airlines in China, Hainan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and Shandong Airlines, among others, operate the Boeing 737 MAX.

"The 737 MAX is one of the most mainstream aircraft models globally. In the single-aisle market, Boeing originally held an advantage, but in recent years, its archrival Airbus has caught up," Lin said.

In China, Airbus has a 50 percent market share. For single-aisle aircraft, it has a market share of 48 percent, and for wide-body jets the proportion is 57 percent, according to the European manufacturer.

If the 737 MAX is grounded for a long time, and the issue is not properly resolved, this could have a larger negative impact on Boeing.

The technical details of the Ethiopian crash and any bureaucratic missteps were not of prime importance to the thousands of people who attended the memorial service for the crash victims in Addis Ababa on Sunday.

One of the victims was Amma Tesfamarian, 28, a flight attendant. She was not scheduled to work that day, but agreed to fill in for a friend.

Meselech Petros, the dead woman's sister, told The East African newspaper, "What I can't forget is that she left an 8-month-old child and didn't come back."