MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) has banned all Boeing 737 MAX flights in Russian airspace until further notice, the agency’s head Alexander Neradko told reporters.
"Rosaviatsia has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) stating that the flights of this type of aircraft [Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 9 - TASS] in Russian airspace are banned until further notice," he said.
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The ban is indefinite and will remain in place until the agency makes a new decision on the matter. According to Neradko, further decisions will be based on the assessment "of the directives and reports coming from the US Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Boeing Company."
On March 10, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8, en route from Addis Ababa to Kenya’s Nairobi, crashed near the Ethiopian town of Bishoftu. The crash killed 157, including three Russians. A similar aircraft crashed in Indonesia on October 29, 2018, killing 189. Following the Ethiopian Airlines crash, many countries, including Russia, the United States and European Union members, grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for safety reasons.
Meanwhile, the Boeing Company said in a statement that it continued "to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX" but supported the suspension of flights. "We are doing everything we can to understand the cause of the accidents in partnership with the investigators, deploy safety enhancements and help ensure this does not happen again," the company added.