Budget carrier Eastar Jet suspends operation of two B737 Max 8s

By Lim Chang-won Posted : March 12, 2019, 19:07 Updated : March 12, 2019, 19:07

[Courtesy of Eastar Jet]


SEOUL -- Eastar Jet, a budget carrier in South Korea, will suspend the operation of two B737 Max 8s for safety checks this week following two crashes involving the new aircraft from U.S. aircraft giant Boeing. China and several other countries have grounded the same plane.

The airline said Tuesday that its B737 Max 8s would be banned from flying from Wednesday. Easter Jet is the only South Korean airline that has operated B737 Max 8s. Transport ministry officials are conducting a safety checkup of Eastar Jet's planes.

"We are taking voluntary measures to cooperate with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's comprehensive safety inspection in order to ease public anxiety and concerns," Eastar Jet CEO Choi Jong-gu said in a statement.

A B737 Max 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed on Sunday shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa en route to Nairobi, killing 157 people. The same model of aircraft flown by Indonesian carrier Lion Air went down shortly after taking from Jakarta in October, killing 189 people.

Ethiopia, Indonesia, China and Australia have grounded the same plane, which only entered service in 2017. Boeing's 737 MAX is a narrow-body aircraft series designed to succeed the 737 Next Generation (NG) series. The fuel-efficient MAX series is offered in different lengths from MAX 7 to MAX 10.

This year, 14 B737 Max 8s will be delivered to South Korean airlines -- six for Korean Air, four for Eastar Jet and four for T’way Air. Korean Air has ordered 30 B737 Max 8s, and Jeju Air has agreed to buy 40 B737 MAX jets.
 
기사 이미지 확대 보기
닫기