Transport Minister Marc Garneau says he would board “without hesitation” the type of aircraft that crashed in the Ethiopian Airlines tragedy on Sunday, stressing his confidence in the new plane.
The accident, which killed all 157 aboard the Boeing 737 Max 8 — including 18 Canadians — has raised concerns over parallels to a Lion Air crash of the same model of aircraft in Indonesia last October, killing 189 people.
Amidst concerns over continued flights in Canada, Garneau says people should not jump to conclusions about the cause of the crash, telling reporters it could be one of “dozens of different possibilities.”
He says he has been in touch with the U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Elaine Chao and is working with American aviation authorities to uncover the problem.
Garneau’s remarks come in the wake of a statement from the Air Canada Pilots Association that called on the minister “to take proactive action to ensure the safety of the Canadian travelling public.”
Canada’s major airlines are being inundated on social media with questions about the safety of their fleet in the wake of the fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday.
The country’s two largest airlines say they are confident in the safety of the 737.
Air Canada says in an email its 24 Max 8 aircraft have performed “excellently” and met safety and reliability standards.
WestJet tweeted Monday that it is not grounding any of its 13 Max 8s, and is “working with Boeing to ensure the continued safe operation of our Max fleet.”
The Boeing jetliner is relatively new, entering into service at both airlines in 2017 and flying routes for Air Canada that include Vancouver to Montreal and Calgary to Vancouver.
Ethiopian Airlines as well as all Chinese airlines have grounded their Boeing 737 Max 8 planes indefinitely in the wake of the crash, which occurred after takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.