Air Canada lets attendants avoid 737 Max flights

Name: Focus Live: How safe are Boeing's 737 Max 8 planes?
Uploaded: 2019-03-13T10:27:17+13:00
Duration: 93 s
Description: Earlier: It may be weeks or months until we know why Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed minutes after takeoff Sunday, killing all 157 passengers and crew on board - if the cause of the crash is determined at all.

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12 Mar, 2019 11:14 PM2 mins to read

Earlier: It may be weeks or months until we know why Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed minutes after takeoff Sunday, killing all 157 passengers and crew on board - if the cause of the crash is determined at all.

The union for Air Canada flight attendants says the company is allowing flight attendants who don't want to fly on Boeing 737 Max airplanes to be reassigned and the union says they want that option to continue.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees issued a statement Tuesday asking the company to put the safety of passengers and crew first.

Wesley Lesosky, the president of the union's Air Canada component, says the union is calling on Air Canada "to at a minimum continue to offer reassignment to crew members who do not want to fly on this type of airplane." Union spokesman Philippe Gagnon says that option is currently being offered.

Before clearing his schedule to meet with experts, Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said he has no plans to ground Canada's fleet of 737 Max aircraft, but that "all options are on the table."

Boeing's CEO has spoken with President Donald Trump and voiced his confidence that plane maker's 737 Max is safe.

The call Tuesday came as the US Federal Aviation Administration continues to back the airworthiness of the 737 Max despite a growing number of countries grounding the aircraft in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash over the weekend.

The FAA says its review has so far not turned up any basis for grounding the jets.

Boeing said CEO Dennis Muilenburg spoke with Trump and expressed "his confidence in the safety of the 737 Max." The White House confirmed the two talked but did not disclose the content of the conversation.

- AP