I have decided to close Polish airspace for Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircrafts, the President of Poland's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Piotr Samson informed on Tuesday. He also expressed his hope that the whole European airspace would be closed for the said aircrafts as soon as possible.
As he stated, he had sent his decision to the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA), which is in charge of Polish airspace.
"In practice, it means that immediately after receiving the CAA's decision, PANSA has closed our airspace for these machines. Similar measures have been taken also in Germany, France and Great Britain. We expect that the whole European airspace would be closed for these aircrafts within an hour," he said.
The CAA president added that his decision was taken after prior consultations with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Eurocontrol.
Polish LOT airlines have therefore grounded its 5 Boeings 737 MAX 8 and decided to substitute them with Boeings 737-800.
The move comes after a 737 MAX crashed on Sunday in Ethiopia, killing 157 people in the second such disaster involving that model in the past few months.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, Reuters