LAGOS, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Aviation professionals in Nigeria called for temporary suspension of Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft from commercial operations due to safety concerns.
Experts from Aviation Round Table (ART), an aviation think-tank group, made the call in a statement issued on Tuesday in Lagos following Sunday's crash of a B737 MAX 8 aircraft operated by Ethiopian Airlines.
Gbenga Olowo, president of ART, said in the statement that the Ethiopian Airlines incident was the second within five months coming on the heels of the crash in Indonesia of the same aircraft type operated by Lions Air in October 2018.
According to Olowo, these fatal accidents call to question the safety of the Max 8 series. "Curiously, there had been no reported case of such fatal accidents of the aircraft in the United States since the aircraft came into operations," he added.
Olowo urged Boeing and the U.S. aviation regulatory bodies to jointly consider these recurring fatal accidents on the B737 MAX as a calamity to the global traveling community.
"We noted that some countries have grounded the B737 MAX on their fleet pending the determination of the cause of the incessant crashes," he said.
"ART is very hopeful that these aviation bodies would respond promptly to the demand that the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft be suspended from commercial operations," Olowo said.
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