A Boeing 737 Max 8 plane operated by Shanghai Airlines parked on the tarmac at Hongqiao airport in Shanghai.
A Boeing 737 Max 8 plane operated by Shanghai Airlines parked on the tarmac at Hongqiao airport in Shanghai.
Planes bound for Britain have been forced to turn back mid-flight after the country banned all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft from flying in or out of its airspace.
Turkish Airlines flight 1997 was already en route from Istanbul to London Gatwick when the ban came into effect - meaningit had to change course immediately.
Turkish Airlines flight 1969 was on its way to Birmingham from Istanbul when it had to pull a similar move.
In a statement issued on Twitter, Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi said all Boeing 737 Max flights are suspended until the "uncertainty affecting safety is cleared".
Late on Tuesday night (Australia time) Britain joined a growing number of countries grounding the new Boeing plane involved in the Ethiopian Airlines disaster as experts chased details on why the plane crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday, killing all 157 on board.
A Boeing 737 Max 8 plane operated by Shanghai Airlines parked on the tarmac at Hongqiao airport in Shanghai.
Ireland matched the UK's decision, and France also closed its airspace to the planes.
It followed the announcement by Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority on Tuesday that it was temporarily suspending operation of the planes while investigations into the cause of the accident continue
Oman, Norwegian Air Shuttle, South Korean airline Eastar Jet and Singapore Airlines-owned SilkAir have also halted use of the Boeing 737 Max 8. Malaysia and Singapore suspended all flights into or out of their countries.
This is despite Boeing issuing a statement saying it has "full confidence in the safety" of its 737 MAX jets and it is not issuing any new guidance.
It comes as Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam told CNN's Richard Quest the pilots of the doomed flight told air traffic control they were having "flight control problems" before the crash.
GebreMariam said the plane's black boxes "will be sent overseas" to be analysed because Ethiopia does not have the necessary technology. He did not say where they would be read.
America's President Donald Trump weighed in, tweeting that additional "complexity creates danger" in modern aircraft and hinders pilots from making "split second decisions" to ensure passengers' safety.
He did not specifically mention the crashes but said that "I don't know about you, but I don't want Albert Einstein to be my pilot".
Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better. Split second decisions are....
....needed, and the complexity creates danger. All of this for great cost yet very little gain. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!
The Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in clear weather six minutes after taking off for Nairobi.
One witness told the Associated Press that he saw smoke coming from the plane's rear before it crashed in a rural field.
"The plane rotated two times in the air, and it had some smoke coming from the back then, it hit the ground and exploded," farmer Tamrat Abera said.
It should take five days before any victims' remains are identified, Ethiopian Airlines spokesman Asrat Begashaw told AP. The dead came from 35 countries and included dozens of humanitarian workers.
A pilot who saw the crash site minutes after the disaster told AP the plane appeared to have "slid directly into the ground." Captain Solomon Gizaw was among the first people dispatched to find the crash site, which was discovered by Ethiopia's air force.
"There was nothing to see," he said. "It looked like the earth had swallowed the aircraft. We were surprised." He said it explained why rescue officials quickly sent bulldozers to begin digging out large pieces of the plane.
Investigators on Monday found the jetliner's two flight recorders at the crash site. An airline official told AP one recorder was partially damaged.
"The engine is here, the wreckage, the humans, the flesh and remains, still we are collecting," said Amdey Fanta, an investigator at the site.
Ethiopian Airlines, widely seen as Africa's best-managed airline, grounded its remaining four 737 Max 8s until further notice as "an extra safety precaution".
The carrier had been using five of the planes and was awaiting delivery of 25 more.
Airlines in China and Indonesia, Aeromexico, Brazil's Gol Airlines, India's Jet Airways and others also have temporarily grounded their 737 Max 8s.
