'No basis' to ground Boeing 737 Max 8: US Aviation Regulator

The United States Aviation Regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday said that there is "no basis" to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8.

CNN quoted the acting administrator of the FAA, Daniel K. Elwell, as saying that the US aviation regulator has conducted a review of the Boeing 737 Max 8 and grounding of the aircraft is baseless.

"The FAA continues to review extensively all available data and aggregate safety performance from operators and pilots of the Boeing 737 MAX. Thus far, our review shows no systematic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding the aircraft. Nor have other civil aviation authorities provided data to us that would warrant action," Elwell said in a statement.

He further assured an immediate and appropriate action, if any issues affecting the continued airworthiness of the aircraft are identified in the course of the urgent review of data on the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash.

This comes after most of the countries and carriers where the said jets are being used have taken precautions following the tragic crashes. South Korea and India launched a special inspection of the planes, while China, Ethiopian Airlines, and Cayman Airways have grounded their Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet.

It is pertinent to note that the recent Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash which killed all the 157 people onboard was a Boeing 737 Max 8. The model of the same make was also involved in another incident when a Lion Airlines plane crashed last year. As many as 189 people were killed in October last year, when a Lion Air jet - a Boeing737 MAX 8 - crashed in the Java Sea, close to Jakarta, Indonesia.