Boeing’s 737 Max fleet was grounded globally after the fatal crashes, the first a Lion Air flight which crashed into the sea off Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2018, and the second an Ethiopian Airlines’ flight which crashed shortly after take off from Addis Ababa in March, 2019. In total, 346 people were killed, including Prof Pius Adesanmi, Canada-based Nigerian social critic.
But in November 2020, the United States aviation regulatory body, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), granted approval for the Boeing 737 Max aircraft to commence flight operations.
The FAA in a letter signed by its Administrator, Steve Dickson, said its employees worked assiduously in the last 20 months to address the safety issues that triggered the crashes.