Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau says Canada will not order its airlines to ground their Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes after one of the aircraft crashed in Ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board, including 18 Canadians.
Garneau said it was important “we don’t jump to conclusions,” as investigators are still working to determine what led to the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines jet shortly after it took off from Addis Ababa on Sunday.
“We are being very proactive right now,” Garneau told reporters in Montreal on Monday. “I was in touch with the secretary of transport in the United states. My colleagues at Transport Canada are working with the Federal Aviation Authority.”
Aviation authorities in China, Indonesia and Ethiopia ordered airlines on Monday to ground their Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes, while Cayman Airways said it was temporarily grounding the two Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft it operates.
Air Canada has 24 Boeing 737 MAX 8s, WestJet Airlines Ltd. has 13 and Sunwing Airlines flies four MAX 8s, according to Transport Canada’s civil aircraft register.
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