The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore has banned all variants of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft from operating into and out of Singapore, in light of two fatal accidents involving the 737 Max 8 in less than five months.

The temporary suspension kicked in at 14:00 local time on 12 March.

Singapore Airlines' regional arm SilkAir is the country’s only Max operator, with six Max 8s in its fleet. It also has another 31 of the type on order, Cirium’s Fleets Analyzer shows.

The other airlines operating the Max 8 to Singapore are China Southern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Shandong Airlines and Thai Lion Air. China and Indonesia had however already called on their airlines to suspend operations of the Max prior to the Singapore directive.

“CAAS has been in regular contact with SilkAir on its Max operations since last year, and has been satisfied that it has been taking appropriate measures to comply with the necessary safety requirements,” says the regulator.

It adds that it will gather more information and “review the safety risk associated with the continued operation” of the Max into and out of Singapore during the suspension period. It is also closely monitoring the situation and is in close communication with the US Federal Aviation Administration and other aviation regulators, as well as Boeing.

“The suspension will be reviewed as relevant safety information becomes available,” it adds.

China became the first country to ground the Max on 11 March, following the fatal crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 the day prior, killing all 157 on board.

Source: Cirium Dashboard

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