US President Donald Trump has issued an emergency order calling for the grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 aircraft in the country.
“We are going to be issuing an emergency order of prohibition to ground all flights of the 737 MAX 8 and the 737 MAX 9 and planes associated with that line,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
The move comes after several other countries also grounded the airplanes and banned the use of the US-based aerospace giant’s 737 MAX models in their airspace following the plane crash involving a 737 MAX 8 Ethiopia on Sunday.
READ ALSO: ‘My Lucky Day’; Writes Man who Missed Ethiopia Plane Crash
All 157 people on board the Ethiopian Airlines-run aircraft died in the crash.
It was the second fatal incident involving the same model in fewer than six months, after a Lion Air plane of the same model crashed in Indonesia in October last year, killing all 189 people onboard.
Both crashes took place shortly after takeoff and have prompted intense scrutiny over the aeroplane’s control systems.
Boeing has defended its aircraft and said it has “full confidence in the safety of the Max”.
Shares in the company fell precipitously moments after Trump’s announcement, plunging by nearly three percent and putting the stock down more than 13 percent since before Sunday’s crash.
The downturn has wiped billions off the company’s market value.
