President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the U.S. is immediately grounding Boeing's 737 MAX airliners, in a stunning reversal that came after virtually the rest of the world sidelined the jet following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
"All of those planes are grounded effective immediately," Trump said from the White House, adding that "pilots have been notified and airlines have been all notified. Airlines are agreeing with us, the safety of the American people and all people is our paramount concern."
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Planes now in the air will be allowed to fly to their destinations, he added.
The move come after days of U.S. officials insisting they were standing behind the Federal Aviation Administration's judgment that it was premature to ground the jet without evidence that some common flaw led to Sunday's crash in Ethiopia and an October air disaster in Indonesia. And it left congressional Democrats warning that they still want answers about how Boeing, the FAA and the Department of Transportation handled the months of questions about flaws in the 737 MAX.
"Our nation should be leading, not lagging, in air safety," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said after the president's remarks.
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So far, minimal travel pain from Boeing 737 MAX grounding
The abruptness of Trump's announcement was underscored by the reaction of Southwest Airlines, the nation's biggest user of 737 MAX jets, which said it "is aware of media reports" about the planes being grounded.
"We are currently seeking confirmation and additional guidance from the FAA," Southwest added.
The FAA said it was acting based on "refined satellite data" showing similarities between the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed Sunday and an October crash involving a Lion Air flight in Indonesia.
"Since this accident occurred, we were resolute in our position that we would not take action until we had data to support taking action," acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell said on a call with reporters. "That data coalesced today, and we made the call."
The groundings threaten to disrupt domestic air traffic and could represent a sizable hit to the bottom line of Boeing, one of the United States' top manufacturers, which has registered more than 7,700 orders for the MAX from air carriers around the world.
The action represents a rare case in which other countries — including allies such as Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany and the European Union — refused to follow the FAA's lead in dealing with the safety of a U.S.-made aircraft. Even more strikingly, the U.S. bowed to the pressure, even after Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg assured Trump in a phone conversation Tuesday that the aircraft is safe.
Trump said Wednesday that "Boeing is an incredible company. ... Hopefully they will very quickly come up with the answer. But until they do, the planes are grounded."
He called the move "a very tough decision."
"We didn’t have to make this decision today," Trump said. "We didn’t have to make it at all. But I felt it was important, both psychologically and in other ways.”
Canada had announced its grounding of the 737 MAX models just hours before Trump spoke.
The U.S. action applies both to Boeing's 737 MAX 8 — the specific model involved in the Ethiopia and Indonesia crashes — and the similar 737 MAX 9.
Boeing immediately said it was supporting Trump's decision "out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety," but insisted it "continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a frequent Trump foil who is running for president, called the move "about time."
"Now it's Congress's job to figure out what went wrong here, and why this decision took so long, to make sure it doesn't happen again," she said on Twitter. "Nothing should come before the safety and security of the American people—especially not corporate profits or political favors."
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) tweeted that Trump "made the right decision. ... This is a commonsense step until the causes of the recent crashes have been investigated and pilots’ concerns have been addressed to ensure safety."
A growing number of lawmakers of both parties had spent days urging the FAA to ground the plane as a precaution, similar to the Obama administration's monthslong grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner amid a spate of smoke and fire incidents caused by its lithium battery.
"Our first priority must be the safety of the flying public," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had said in a statement Tuesday, despite representing a state that's home to two of the country's biggest users of the 737 MAX — Southwest Airlines and American Airlines.
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Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's transportation subcommittee, amped up the pressure Tuesday by asking acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell for an explanation about its refusal to ground the plane.
"It appears that the FAA is out of step with other safety organizations around the world," Price wrote, adding: "The FAA's posture has done little to calm anxieties in the flying public."
Both of the recent air disasters, including Sunday's in Ethiopia, involved planes that plunged to a fatal crash shortly after takeoff. A preliminary investigation into the Indonesia crash revealed potential problems with a Boeing safety feature that may have forced the jet into a dive — a software update that some pilots' groups said the manufacturer had failed to properly notify pilots and airlines about.
Boeing and the FAA are working on a new software update that is expected to be implemented by April. But in the meantime, at least five U.S. pilots have reported problems flying the MAX 8, including one who said the FAA's and Boeing's handling of the issue was "unconscionable," according to a review of federal safety data.
As recently as Tuesday night, Elwell — a Trump appointee — had stuck with the agency's position that it was too soon to force the plane out of service.
"Thus far, our review shows no systemic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding the aircraft," Elwell said in a statement at the time. "Nor have other civil aviation authorities provided data to us that would warrant action."
The MAX 8 and 9 are variations on the 737, the most widely sold jetliner in the world, and is a money-maker for Boeing. It’s also a significant part of the fleets of Southwest and American, which have about 60 of the Max 8 planes between them.
The national president of a union representing American Airlines flight attendants said Tuesday that it had asked CEO Doug Parker to "strongly consider grounding" Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets "until a thorough investigation can be performed."
"Our flight attendants are very concerned with the recent Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, which has raised safety concerns with the 737 MAX 8," the Association of Professional Flight Attendants' Lori Bassani said in a statement.
Bassani added that flight attendants wouldn't be "forced to fly if they feel unsafe."
A wave of foreign governments took matters into their own hands, starting with China, which cited "zero tolerance for security risks" as it grounded its fleet of almost 100 Max 8 planes. Indonesia, Ethiopian Airlines and Cayman Airways followed suit, joining a stampede that soon had regulators including EU, British, French, German and Irish authorities banning the 737 MAX from operating in or flying over their countries.
Some aviation experts had defended the FAA's initial decision to wait for more data and urged it to stay the course regardless of what other countries do.
"They are the senior authority on this aircraft, having certified the design and its manufacturing," airline industry analyst Robert Mann told POLITICO this week.
Andrew Restuccia and Sam Mintz contributed to this report.
