Whether Rwanda buys two new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft as planned now depends on the verdict from investigations into an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft crash last weekend.
The national carrier was in advanced stages of acquiring two Boeing 737 Max 8s, with reports showing that the aircraft would arrive late March or early April. But an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft crash last weekend, the second fatal accident in five months involving this model, has raised safety questions
The two new Boeing 737 Max 8 planes were expected to bolster RwandAir’s European routes especially during low seasons, while the two A330s are expected to operate on the Kigali-New York route, which is awaiting final approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration.
Boeing issued a statement on Monday noting that since the Lion Air crash, the company had been developing a “flight control software enhancement for the 737 Max 8, designed to make an already safe aircraft even safer.”
Whether Rwanda buys two new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft as planned now depends on the verdict from investigations into an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft crash last weekend.
The national carrier RwandAir was in advanced stages of acquiring two new Boeing 737 Max 8 with reports showing that the aircraft would arrive late March or early April.
The airline also planned to add two A330 neo planes and an Airbus A321LR to its fleet, to deploy on its new African and international routes.
“It is important that investigations are conducted first; government is concerned and the regulatory organ is monitoring the situation before making a decision,” said the Minister of State for East Africa Olivier Nduhungirehe.
“This is the second Boeing 737 Max plane that has crashed, so we need to get to the bottom of the matter because the safety of the people is important.”
All 157 passengers and crew members aboard the ill-fated Ethiopian Airline aeroplane died when it crashed shortly after take off from the capital Addis-Ababa.
This is the second fatal accident in five months involving the Boeing 737 Max 8. Last October, a new Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 flight went down over the Java Sea, killing 189 people. It is suggested that erroneous readings from poorly maintained sensors in the nose of the Lion Air aeroplane may have fooled the automatic systems into detecting that the plane was traveling sharply upward and in danger of stalling, when it was actually in level flight.
Boeing issued a statement on Monday noting that since the Lion Air crash, the company had been developing a “flight control software enhancement for the 737 Max 8, designed to make an already safe aircraft even safer.”
The company said it is working with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to roll out the software updates across the 737 Max 8 fleet in coming weeks.
Since the Ethiopian Airlines crash, a host of countries have grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8, including China, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Oman and Indonesia, while others like the UK have banned it from their airspaces.
After President Donald Trump said he is issuing an executive order to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 last week, the FAA gave in, even though it had initially said it will not suspend the plane despite mounting pressure from senators and workers unions, as a review showed "no systemic performance issues," and that there was no basis for grounding the aircraft. US carriers had more than 70 Boeing 737 Max aeroplanes.
The FAA ordered a “ temporary grounding of Boeing 737 Max operated by US airlines or in US territory,” shortly after President Trump’s comment.
“The grounding will remain in effect pending further investigation , including examination of information from the aircraft’s flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders,” the FAA said.
At least 18 airlines were still flying the aircraft by Monday, including Southwest Airlines and Air Canada.
The development is likely to delay RwandAir’s planned acquisition of the aeroplanes. When asked whether the carrier will go on with the purchase of the other aircraft outside the Boeing 737 Max 8, RwandAir’s CEO Yvonne Makolo, did not divulge much information.
“We are monitoring the situation closely, and as always safety is our number one priority,” she said.
RwandAir had announced that it will soon start flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, after the two countries signed a bilateral air services agreement on January 7.
Ms Makolo said the Kigali-Tel Aviv route is among those the new aeroplanes would be deployed on.
RwandAir plans to fly to 31 destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Other routes it plans to fly to include Addis Ababa, Guangzhou and Conakry.