Boeing 737 MAX groundings
The Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and December 2020 – longer in many jurisdictions – after 346 people died in two similar crashes: Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019. By March 13, 2019, 51 regulators had grounded the plane; by March 18, all 387 of the aircraft in service worldwide were grounded; the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had resisted grounding the aircraft until March 13, when it received evidence showing how similar the accidents were.
A parking lot at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, filled with undelivered Boeing 737 MAX aircraft during the grounding
Five Shenzhen Airlines 737 MAX 8s (foreground, red livery) grounded at the Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, March 2019
Vertical airspeeds of both flights, showing altitude loss in 20-second intervals
PK-LQP, the aircraft involved in the crash of Flight 610
The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and competes with the Airbus A320neo family.
The new series was announced in August 2011. It took its maiden flight in January 2016 and was certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in March 2017. The first delivery was a MAX 8 in May 2017 to Malindo Air, with which it commenced service in May 2017.
Boeing 737 MAX
Roll-out of the first Boeing 737 MAX in December 2015
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 entered service with Lion Air's subsidiary Malindo Air (wearing Batik Air Malaysia livery)
Some of the dozens of undelivered 737 MAX aircraft parked at Boeing Field in Seattle after the type was grounded, 2019
