The United Arab Emirates, a key international travel hub, has barred the Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 from its airspace following the crash of a similar jetliner in Ethiopia.
The Emirates’ General Civil Aviation administration made the announcement late Tuesday night.
It cited the similarities between Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines flight and another by Indonesia’s Lion Air last year for its decision.
The budget carrier FlyDubai, owned by the Dubai government, uses the aircraft as a workhorse of its fleet.
FlyDubai said in a statement “is adjusting its schedule to minimise disruption to passengers.”
It flies 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8s and two MAX 9s.
AA flights out of T&T and arriving will also be affected. The T&T Guardian will update this story in a later post.