Polish national carrier keeps using Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes despite crash in Ethiopia

WARSAW, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Polish national airline LOT announced on Monday it would keep flying its Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes despite a crash of this type of airplane on Sunday in Ethiopia killing all people on board.

"None of the airport agencies in charge of security issued any recommendations or decisions about Boeing 737 MAX 8, therefore LOT will continue the realisation of flights with these airplanes," LOT said in a press statement on Monday.

LOT said the company's technical staff were continuously checking the state of the five Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes owned by the company and that all planes owned by LOT were "fully functional" and fulfilling all safety requirements. LOT said it was also in touch with other companies using the airplanes and with Boeing.

LOT was planning to expand its Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet to 14 by the end of this year.

On Sunday, 157 people were killed after a Boeing 737 MAX 8 belonging to Ethiopian Airlines crashed a few minutes after takeoff in Addis Ababa. The plane, which was headed to Nairobi, Kenya, carried 149 passengers and 8 members of the crew.

A similar accident took place in October last year, when a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Indonesian Lion Air crashed soon after takeoff from Jakarta, killing 189 people.

Following the accident on Sunday, Ethiopian Airlines grounded all Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes in its fleet. Enditem