Yemisi Izuora
The federal government on Wednesday placed ban on the Boeing 737 Max airplanes from its airspace following the deadly crash of the same brand of airplane belonging to the Ethiopian airlines that killed all 157 persons on board on Sunday in Addis Ababa.
The directive was made known by the Minister of State for Aviation, at the end of today’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sirika said, “Regarding Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 that has been in the news recently, there is no cause for alarm as there is no operator in Nigeria that is using that type of airplane.
“The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, whose mandate it is to issue advisory, has already issued advisory that nobody should fly into Nigeria or out of Nigeria using Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9, pending the determination of the actual cause of the crash in Ethiopia and also pending the outcome of the response of the manufacturer, which is Messers Boeing.
“Regardless of the enormous safety records of this plane 737, it has caused concern in the world of aviation and you know aviation is universal, whatever affects one affects the other because aircraft will be flying in and out. So, we have issued directive that no operator with Boeing 737 Max 8 or Max 9 should operate into and outside our airports and this is being carried out.”
Oriental News Nigeria reports that aboard the crashed Ethiopian Airlines plane were professor Pius Adesanmi and Mr Abiodun Bashua, both citizens of the country.
Nigeria’s decision to ban the Boeing 737 MAX followed the Announcement by the UK Civil Aviation Authority that the line of aircraft had been banned from its airspace.
The country’s aviation regulator said “as a precautionary measure” it had decided “to stop any commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing or over flying UK airspace”.