The United States grounded Boeing Co's money-spinning 737 MAX aircraft on Wednesday over safety fears after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that killed 157 people, leaving the world's largest planemaker facing its worst crisis in years. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cited new satellite data and evidence from the scene of Sunday's crash near Addis Ababa for its decision to join Europe, China and other nations in suspending 737 MAX flights. The crash was the second disaster involving the 737 MAX, the world's most-sold modern passenger aircraft, in less than five months. The new information from the wreckage in Ethiopia and newly refined data about the plane's flight path indicated some similarities between the two disasters "that warrant further investigation of the possibility of a shared cause," the FAA said in a statement. The acting administrator of the FAA, Daniel Elwell, said he did not know how long the US grounding of the aircraft would last. A software fix for the 737 Max that Boeing has been working on since a fatal crash last October in Indonesia will take months to complete, Elwell told reporters. US airlines that operate the 737 MAX, Southwest Airlines Co, American Airlines Group Inc and United Airlines, said they were working to re-book passengers. Southwest had 5 MAX-related cancellations on Wednesday and American nearly 40. Southwest is the world's largest operator of the 737 MAX 8 with 34 jets. The United States had held back on suspending 737 MAX flights on Tuesday even as many of the world's top economies such as China and European nations grounded the plane. President Donald Trump called Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg on Wednesday to inform him that the United States was preparing to ground the fleet, a White House official said. "I spoke with a number of airlines. And speaking to the airlines, I think that we all agree that this was right decision to make. It didn't have to be made, but we thought it was the right decision to make," Trump told reporters. The grounding was welcomed by air workers in the United States. John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union of America, which represents aviation workers and flight attendants, said the grounding of the fleet was right "both for air travellers and aviation workers." Canada also grounded 737 MAX jets on Wednesday, saying satellite data suggested similarities to the previous crash involving the same plane model in October. Brazil on Wednesday became the first major Latin American nation to suspend the Boeing 737 MAX, after Panama's Copa Holdings said it would suspend operations of its six Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft. — Reuters
