Boeing 737 Max 8 planes not used by Philippine air carriers

Boeing 737 Max 8
The Boeing 737 Max 8, which crashed for a second time within months in Ethiopia on Sunday.

The two leading airlines that operate out of the Philippines have confirmed that there are no Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft in their fleets.

The model has come under international scrutiny after two plane crashes that killed hundreds of people, most recently in Ethiopia.

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China, Russia, the UK, Indonesia and France have now banned the planes from their airspace, after an Ethiopian Airlines plane flying to Nairobi crashed on Sunday (March 10) killing all 157 passengers on board.

Representatives from Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines have both confirmed that their fleets do not include the ill-fated model.

PAL spokesman Cielo Villaluna clarified that while they did not fly the 737 model, but they did use the Boeing 777-300 plane.

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“What we have among the Boeing variants is the B777-300, which is utilised on our long-haul transpacific routes to the US mainland and which has served the route with efficiency and reliability,” he told CNN Philippines.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the Ethiopian tragedy, but are hampered by the fact that all contact with the aircraft was lost six minutes after departure. In October last year, a Lion Air flight using the Boeing 737 Max 8 also crashed over the Java Sea killing all of its 189 passengers.

There are more than 370 of the 737 Max 8 planes currently in service around the world, and nearly 5,000 on order.

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Boeing 737 Max 8 FACTFILE: 

Airspace bans for B-737 MAX

  • Australia
  • China
  • UK
  • USA
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Canada
  • EU
  • Malaysia
  • Namibia
  • Oman
  • Singapore
  • (list fully comprehensive at time of publication only)

Airlines grounding B-737 MAX jets

  • Aerolineas Argentinas
  • Aeromexico
  • Cayman Airways
  • Comair
  • Eastar Jet
  • Ethiopian Airlines
  • Gol Airlines
  • Icelandair
  • LOT
  • MIAT Mongolian Airlines
  • Norwegian Air Shuttle
  • Smartwings
  • Turkish Airlines
  • (list fully comprehensive at time of publication only)

Passenger aircraft with fatality-free records:

  • Boeing 717 (formerly the MD95),
  • A380 superjumbo
  • Boeing 787
  • Boeing 747-8
  • Airbus A350
  • Bombardier C Series
  • Airbus A340
  • Airbus A320 NEO series

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