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Aviation safety ‘fragmented’ after Boeing 737 crashes

A senior EU official has warned that the international aviation safety system has become “fragmented” after the grounding of Boeing’s 737 max aircraft.

The official told The Financial Times the Ethiopian Airlines crash has led to a “splintering” of the global system as countries grounded the aircraft individually and at different times as opposed to acting in unity.

American airlines continued to fly 737 Max 8s for three days after the crash.

On Wednesday Iata confirmed the aircraft would not return to the skies before August.

“The system was based on trust and the trust has gone,” the official said.

Mary Schiavo, a former inspector-general of the US Department of Transportation, said the Federal Aviation Administration’s insistence that the Max 8 was safe and could be fixed with a software update had cost it credibility.

“It’s utterly ridiculous because no one will trust the FAA’s certifications, Schiavo told CNN.

The FAA is reviewing an emergency procedure in circumstances similar to the two crashes, which saw the nose of the plane go down in error.

The 737 Max had been grounded since March after two crashes in five months in which 346 people died in crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

US pilots had received only one to three hours of training on an iPad to prepare them to fly the Max before the crashes.

The FAA must decide whether pilots need to be trained in a Max simulator after the faulty manoeuvring system (MCAS) is repaired.

Boeing is understood to have finished a fix but has not yet submitted it to the FAA for approval.

Iata chief Alexandre de Juniac told reporters in Seoul on Wednesday that the organisation was organising a summit with airlines, regulators and Boeing in five-to-seven weeks to discuss what is needed for the 737 Max to return to service

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