Macao suspends flight applications of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft

MACAO, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The Civil Aviation Authority of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has decided to temporarily suspend the flight applications of Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft by any airlines, the authority said in a press release on Wednesday.

Currently, aircraft registered in Macao do not include the Boeing 737 Max model. Nor are there any operations of Boeing 737 Max aircraft by any airlines in Macao International Airport, it said.

The authority has always taken a strict manner in ensuring that the operations in Macao's air transport market are safe and would lift the suspension only when the safety concerns of Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft are cleared, it added.

The suspension came following the fatal crash of an Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 737 Max 8 passenger jet on Sunday.

The plane bound for Nairobi, Kenya crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board.

It was the second deadly crash for a Boeing 737 Max 8 model in less than five months. The first one occurred in October last year when an aircraft of the same model operated by Indonesia's Lion Air plunged into the water off western Indonesia minutes after taking off, killing 189 people.

A number of countries and regions in Asia-Pacific have grounded the aircraft amid safety concerns.