The United States for a time on Wednesday was the only country flying the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft after Sunday’s deadly crash in Ethiopia, the second fatal accident involving the plane in the past few months.
President Trump announced later on Wednesday that the U.S. is grounding the Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 planes.
{mosads}“Planes that are in the air will be grounded if they are the 737 Max. Will be grounded upon landing at their destination,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
This week’s crash, which killed all 157 people onboard, followed an October crash that killed 189 people on a Boeing 737 Max 8 that took off from Indonesia.
The most recent incident prompted other countries that operate the aircraft to ground the planes as a precautionary move. Several airlines have also stopped flying the Boeing model.
Canada was one of the last holdouts until Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced earlier on Wednesday that the country was banning 737 Max aircrafts from its airspace.
The Federal Aviation Administration in the United States maintained as recently as Tuesday that the planes were safe to fly.
The agency faced pressure from industry groups and some U.S. lawmakers to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8.
Updated at 2:35 p.m.