Italian consumer group calls for grounding of Boeing 747 Max planes after deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash

ROME, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Italy's Codacons consumer association on Monday urged the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) to immediately ground all Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes in use in Italy after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines aircraft in which 157 people died, including eight Italians.

Aviation authorities in China, Ethiopia and Indonesia reportedly ordered airlines to ground their Boeing 737 Max 8 planes after Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 from Addis Abeba to Nairobi crashed soon after takeoff, drawing renewed scrutiny of the plane after an October 2018 crash of the same model in Indonesia claimed 189 lives.

"In view of the preceding, wholly similar incident in Indonesia, and circulating reports on lack of pilot training in flight correction software, measures must be taken immediately to safeguard air transportation safety," said Codacons President Carlo Rienzi in a statement.

"We urgently call on ENAC to categorically ground all Boeing 737 Max planes present in Italian airports," Rienzi wrote, adding that Sardinia-based airline Air Italy "already has the model in its fleet, and has ordered a total of 20."

ENAC confirmed that Air Italy flies three Boeing 737 Max airplanes, which it "operates in full compliance" with Boeing and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration requirements "issued after a similar incident took place in Indonesia."

Based in the island region of Sardinia, Air Italy is 49 percent owned by Qatar Airways. Its fleet is currently comprised of three Boeing 737 Max 8, seven Boeing 737 NG, and five Airbus A330, according to the company's corporate website.

It operates domestically and also flies direct from Milan's Malpensa Airport to Accra, Cairo, Dakar, Lagos, and Sharm El-Sheikh. It is adding new routes to Bangkok, Delhi, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and San Francisco starting in April, said the company website.

Earlier in the day, Ethiopian Airlines confirmed on Twitter that it has decided to ground all Boeing 737 Max flights "until further notice" as "an extra safety precaution".

Speaking to La Repubblica newspaper in an interview, veteran airline pilot Danilo Recine from the National Association of Civil Aviation Professionals (ANPAC) pointed out that, while the causes of the Ethiopian Airlines flight crash are still unknown, "it is possible" that the plane's sensors malfunctioned.

"In the Lion Air crash (in Indonesia) last year, some of the parameters sent to the cockpit, such as speed and altitude, were wrong. The machine reacted with countermeasures to correct something that was not happening in reality...and the pilots could not override the system manually. We could be looking at something similar."

People from 35 countries were killed in Sunday's crash, with China, Italy, and the U.S. each losing eight of their own, Ethiopian Airlines said in a tweet.

The Italian fatalities include a world-famous archeologist who served as a regional council member for culture in Sicily, three young women who served in the United Nations World Food Programme, the head of a humanitarian NGO called the International Committee for the Development of Peoples (CISP), plus three volunteers from another NGO called Africa Tremila, which carries out health care, education and food programs in developing countries.

"They represented the beauty of Italy, the Italy that dedicates itself to helping others," Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi told RAI public broadcaster in an interview.

"(They were) people who gave themselves and their professional lives to solidarity and cooperation. We knew them well here at the ministry, we worked with them many times, and their loss is a loss for everyone," he added. Enditem