The Boeing 737-800 jet, carrying 120 passengers that crashed in the southern part of Guangxi on Monday, casts doubt on aircraft that have become ubiquitous on US airlines.
China Eastern Airlines announced that it will land all Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board is monitoring the crash in a statement, twitter..
Which airline is flying the Boeing 737-800?
Almost all major airlines operating in the United States operate aircraft. There are 4,500 jets in use around the world. A search on FlightAware.com found that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of Boeing 737-800 jets in the air around the world on Monday morning.
According to a submission to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines had 207 planes, and Fort Worth-based American Airlines had 267 planes as of the end of 2021. Delta had a total of 77 aircraft and United had 141.
American Airlines flies most jets as part of its entire fleet. Almost one-third of that plane is a 737-800 jet.
Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines do not operate Boeing aircraft.
“We are closely monitoring the situation for more details,” Southwest Airlines said in a statement.
“Southwest Airlines expresses its deepest condolences to China Eastern Airlines and its families, employees, loved ones, and everyone affected by today’s event,” the company said.
Federal Aviation Administration share Be aware of the incident in China.
“The agency is ready to support research activities when requested,” the agency said.
American Airlines did not respond to the Dallas Morning News comment request.
AirlinesBoeing 737 aircraft that caused 132 crashes in China
Boeing began delivering the 737-800 to its customers in 1997 and delivered the last of the series to China Eastern Airlines in 2020. This resulted in the production of more than 5,200 narrow-body aircraft, a popular single-aisle commuter aircraft.
By wired service
Does the 737-800 have a safe record?
Six years ago, single-aisle jets are part of a next-generation era that precedes the 737 Max, which has suffered global ground contact after two deadly crashes. According to aviation consultant Cirium, NG is one of the best safety records of all aircraft, with 11 fatal accidents out of more than 7,000 aircraft delivered since 1997. ..
“The 737NG has been in operation for 25 years and has an excellent safety record,” said Paul Hayes, director of aviation safety and insurance at Cirium. “I’m not guessing what happened, but if Flightradar24’s logs are accurate, something suddenly happened and the plane lowered its nose from cruising altitude.”
George Ferguson, senior airline analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said he doesn’t think the reaction to the 737-800 crash in China would look like a quick, global grounding for a 737 Max jet a few years ago. .. Specifically, these planes are not allowed to fly in China by regulatory authorities three years after the incident on which they were based.
“Our heart and thoughts are in our family, but from a business perspective, this 737-800 is a very safe plane,” Ferguson said.
According to Ferguson, the 737-800 jet is the “meat” of most airline fleets. They accommodate up to 175 passengers and are based on aircraft frames that have changed slightly in the decades since their commercial use began in the 1980s.
Investigators will delve into what went wrong on China Eastern Airlines flights over the next few days. According to Ferguson, the limited details available so far do not imply that the plane crashed due to a system failure on the part of the manufacturer.
“Thanks to Max, this is a bit more sensitive, but no system is the same that made Max difficult,” Ferguson said.
Do fatal crashes occur frequently in China?
No. According to the AviationSafetyNetwork, this latest accident is the first fatal accident in 10 years for a Chinese airline. According to Reuters, this was a regional flight of Embraer E-190 operated by Henan Airlines.
The last fatal civilian aircraft crash in the United States was Colgan Air Flight 3407, a now-disappearing airline that crashed in Clarence, New York, killing 50 people on February 12, 2009.
Bloomberg contributed to this report.