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DGCA lifts ban on Boeing 737 Max aircraft
The DGCA had banned the operation of Boeing 737 Max aircraft over Indian airspace in March 2019, following two fatal accidents involving Lion Air flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday lifted the ban on Boeing 737 Max aircraft after grounding them for more than two years.
The DGCA had banned the operation of Boeing 737-8 and 737-9 aircraft over Indian airspace on March 13, 2019, following two fatal accidents involving Lion Air flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302.
However, in April this year, the DGCA allowed the grounded aircraft to resume flying over the Indian airspace and also allowed foreign-registered aircraft to be ferried out of the country to conduct operational readiness flights. It, however, did not allow Indian aircraft grounded in the country to fly at that time.
The latest order, however, rescinds any kind of ban DGCA had earlier imposed on Boeing 737 Max aircraft, after the American aviation regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European regulator European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approved the airworthiness directive and return to service of the aircraft with extensive fixes.
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The DGCA said in its latest order that it lifted the ban after reviewing the approvals of the FAA and the EASA and on lines of 17 other regulators across the world who have also allowed flight of Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
"A sizeable number of airlines (34) with B737 Max airplane (345) are operating currently and have attained 1,22,824 total departures with 2,89,537 cumulative hours since the un-grounding from December 9, 2020, with no untoward reporting, " the DGCA order issued on Thursday read.
The Centre had grounded all Boeing 737 Max aeroplanes in the country after the Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 operating with 737 Max plane crashed near Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019, killing 157 people, including four Indians. The crash was the second such incident in five months. In October 2018, a 737 Max plane operated by Lion Air crashed into the Indonesian Java Sea, minutes after take-off, killing 180 people.
