President Donald Trump says the U.S. is issuing an emergency order grounding all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft in the wake of a crash of an Ethiopian Airliner that killed 157 people.
Many nations in the world had already barred the Boeing 737 Max 8 from its airspace, but until now, the Federal Aviation Administration had been saying that it didn't have any data to show the jets are unsafe.
The decision should not have a big impact on the Greater Rochester International Airport. That’s according to Airport Director Andy Moore who says Southwest was the only airline locally that flew that particular aircraft in and out of Rochester on routes to Baltimore and Orlando, and he says there weren’t many of those planes involved in those trips.
“Southwest has flown the 737 Max 8 just a small handful of times over the last couple of months. I believe it’s flown the 737 Max three times in February and then five times in January, and so it is not a constant aircraft, or a frequent aircraft that comes in and out of Rochester,” Moore told WXXI News.
Moore says it’s a good idea for passengers to check ahead on what type of aircraft they will be flying, if they plan a trip in the near future.
“They should just check with their airlines or go into their reservations and see what aircraft they’re flying on and then if it is a 737 Max they should contact their airline and just see what other options they have or hopefully by then the airline will have contacted them to get them squared way with some other option or some other aircraft to get them to their destination,” Moore said.
The Associated Press and NPR contributed to this story.
