Airlines which fly the Boeing 737 Max 8 aeroplane

An American Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 prepares to land at the Miami International Airport on March 12, 2019. On Tuesday, the European Union joined China, Indonesia and more than a half-dozen other countries barred the planes from their airspace PHOTO | JOE RAEDLE | GETTY IMAGES | AFP

By  THE NEW YORK TIMES

What you need to know:

  • An estimated 6,000 of the 8,600 flights that use the plane in a typical week of travel were affected.
  • Three airlines in the United States and Canada have stuck by the Max 8, leaving them as the only carriers still flying large numbers of the jets.
  • The Federal Aviation Administration has declared the plane safe.

Roughly two-thirds of the 737 Max 8 aircraft in the world have been pulled from use by airlines and aviation regulators after the model crashed twice in just five months.

An estimated 6,000 of the 8,600 flights that use the plane in a typical week of travel were affected, according to an analysis based on data from Flightradar24, a flight tracking service.

But three airlines in the United States and Canada — American, Southwest and Air Canada — have stuck by the Max 8, leaving them as the only carriers still flying large numbers of the jets.

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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has declared the plane safe.

Concerns about the model first surfaced after a Lion Air flight crashed near Indonesia in October, killing all 189 people aboard.

On Sunday, a second plane crashed outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157 people.

It is unclear why the second plane crashed or whether the causes of the crashes are related.

On Tuesday, the European Union joined China, Indonesia and more than a half-dozen other countries barring the planes from their airspace as the investigation continues.

OUT OF SERVICE

Nearly 40 airlines have announced they are taking the aircraft out of service.

The 737 class is a workhorse for airlines worldwide, and the single-aisle 737 Max has been Boeing’s best-selling plane ever.

More than 340 of the Max 8 planes are registered, and many more are on order.

But the model accounts for a small fraction of planes in the air at any given time, according to Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for Flightradar24.

The estimate of affected flights is based on data showing where the plane flew during a week of travel beginning February 25.

GROUNDED FLIGHTS

The New York Times counted flights as grounded if they departed or arrived in a country that has barred the Max 8, or if they were flown by an airline that has grounded the jet.

The most popular routes were in North America and China.

Investigators recovered both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder for the Ethiopian Airlines crash Monday.

Some circumstances of the crash, such as unusual altitude changes after take-off, were similar to those in the Lion Air flight, but the cause is still not known.

Five months later, the causes of that crash are still under investigation.

But the tragedy revealed that Boeing and the FAA determined that pilots did not need to be informed of changes to the Max 8’s flight control system, which may have contributed to the crash.

The following is the status of Boeing 737 Max 8 Flights by airline:

  • Southwest Airlines — Status: In use. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 34.
  • American Airlines — Status: In use. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 24.
  • Air Canada — Status: In use. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 24.
  • China Southern Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 22.
  • Norwegian Air — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 18.
  • TUI Fly — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 15.
  • Air China — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 15.
  • SpiceJet — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 13.
  • WestJet — Status: In use. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 13.
  • Turkish Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 11.
  • FlyDubai — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 11.
  • Shanghai Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 11.
  • Hainan Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 11.
  • Xiamen Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 10.
  • Lion Air — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 10.
  • Smartwings — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 7.
  • GOL Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 7.
  • Shandong Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 7.
  • SilkAir — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 6.
  • Aeromexico — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 6.
  • Shenzhen Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 6.
  • Jet Airways — Status: Previously grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 5.
  • LOT — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 5.
  • Oman Air — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 5.
  • Aerolineas Argentinas — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 5.
  • Sunwing Airlines — Status: In use. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 4.
  • China Eastern Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 4.
  • Ethiopian Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 4.
  • Icelandair — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 3.
  • Air Italy — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 3.
  • Lucky Air — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 3.
  • Enter Air — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 2.
  • Fiji Airways — Status: Partially grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 2.
  • S7 Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 2.
  • Cayman Airways — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 2.
  • Fuzhou Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 2.
  • Kunming Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 2.
  • Okay Airways — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 2.
  • Eastar Jet — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 2.
  • Mauritania Airlines — Status: Unknown. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 1.
  • Corendon Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 1.
  • SCAT — Status: In use. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 1.
  • 9 Air — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 1.
  • Royal Air Maroc — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 1.
  • Comair — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 1.
  • MIAT Mongolian Airlines — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 1.
  • Garuda Indonesia — Status: Grounded. Number of 737 Max 8s in fleet: 1.

Note: Jet Airways has not flown Max 8 jets since the beginning of March because of financial distress. Fiji Airways has suspended all Max 8 operations to and from Australia to comply with a directive of Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Sources: The airlines, Flightradar24, OpenFlights Airports Database, aviation authorities.

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