Brazilian airline Gol announced on Monday it was grounding its Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft following the Ethiopian Airlines crash involving the same model that left 157 people dead.
Of Gol’s 121 Boeing aircraft, with whom it has an exclusive agreement, seven are the 737 MAX 8 model.
Gol said travelers booked onto flights using the 737 MAX 6 aircraft would be transferred onto other flights, perhaps even on different airlines.
The company said the model’s flight record had so far shown 2,933 journeys since its introduction in June 2018 with total security and efficiency.
Gol stated its “confidence in its operations and in Boeing” and said it was doing everything possible to allow it to resume the grounded flights as soon as it could.
Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines crash was the second one in six months involving the 737 Max 8 model following the death of 189 people in Indonesia in October.
Here are few about the 737 Max-8 and 737-9 airplaces
- US-registered fleet: 74 airplanes
- Worldwide fleet: 387 airplanes
- Operators:
- 59 operators worldwide: 9 Air, Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air China, Air Fiji, AIR ITALY S.P.A, American Airlines, Arkefly, Britannia Airways AB, Cayman Airways, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Comair, COPA Airlines, Corendon Airlines, Eastar Jet, Enter Air Sp. Z O.O, Ethiopian Airlines, Fertitta Enterprises, Inc, flydubai, Fuzhou Airlines Co, Ltd, Garuda Indonesia, Gol Linhas Aereas S.A, Hainan Airlines, Icelandair, Jet Airways, Jet Aviation Business Jets, JSC Aircompany SCAT, Kunming Airlines, Lion Air, Globus Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lucky Air, Mauritania Airlines, Mongolian Airlines MIAT, Norwegian Air International Lt, Norwegian Air Norway, Norwegian Air Shuttle AS, Norwegian Air Sweden, Okay Airways Company Limited, Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Shandong Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, SilkAir, Smartwings, Southwest Airlines, SpiceJet , Sunwing Airlines Inc, Thai Lion, TUI Airlines Belgium, TUI Airways, Turkish Airlines (THY), United Airlines, WestJet, Xiamen Airlines
Source: FAA website
China was amongst a number of countries to ground all 737 MAX 8 craft on Monday, while the United States (US) federal aviation authorities said they would order Boeing to modify the model.