France closes airspace to Boeing 737 MAX after Ethiopia crash

PARIS, March 12 (Xinhua) -- France's DGAC civil aviation authority on Tuesday announced it had banned Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from French airspace in the wake of the crash of a plane of the same model in Ethiopia two days ago.

"Given the circumstances of the accident in Ethiopia, the French authorities have taken the decision, as a precautionary measure, to ban any commercial flight on a Boeing 737 MAX to, from, or over French territory," the DGAC said.

"France remains attentive to the forthcoming elements of the investigation and the decisions of the European and American regulators," it added.

The DGAC decided to close the country's airspace to the U.S. airplane model after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 bound for Nairobi, Kenya, crashed shortly after taking off from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa Sunday morning, killing all 157 people on board.

The crash was the second such accident involving the Boeing 737 MAX model in five months. In October 2018, Lion Air airline plane crashed in Indonesia, killing 189 passengers.