Switzerland has confirmed that Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights have also been banned in Swiss airspace following the second of two fatal crashes involving the aircraft type. A crash in Ethiopia on Sunday killed all 157 people on board.
No aircraft of this type are registered in Switzerland and a spokesperson for the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviationexternal link said that only two or three Being 737 MAX 8 flights went through Switzerland every month.
But the authorities confirmed on Wednesday that a European Union ban on the aircraft type is also valid in Switzerland.
The Ethiopian Airlines tragedy followed a crash in Indonesia last October that claimed 189 lives. In both instances, the brand new aircraft crashed shortly after taking off. The cause of the crashes is not yet known.
Several countries, including China, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, have joined the EU and Switzerland in banning the aircraft from their airspace. A number of airlines around the world have grounded this type of aircraft from their fleets.
Around 350 aircraft of this type were in active use before the Ethiopian crash. Neither Swiss International Air Linesexternal link, part of the Lufthansa Group, or Edelweiss Airexternal link have any Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in their fleetsexternal link.
swissinfo.ch/mga
