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Boeing 737 MAX: Kayak to filter search queries by plane model

The move follows widespread anxiety about the safety of the aircraft

Joanna Whitehead
Thursday 14 March 2019 12:56 GMT
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How to tell if you're on a Boeing 737 Max

As Boeing moved to ground its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX jets across the world, a travel search engine has moved to exclude certain aircraft types from queries.

Kayak said it will update its search function to allow passengers to filter their search by plane model.

The Ethiopian Airlines crash last Sunday has prompted a global response across the aviation industry, resulting in the grounding of all 371 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

The crash, which killed all 157 people onboard the Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet, happened shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa.

The incident has led to increased concerns from passengers booked to fly on the aircraft, following the second fatal crash on the Boeing 737 MAX in five months.

A Kayak spokesperson told The Independent: “We've recently received feedback to make Kayak's filters more granular in order to exclude particular aircraft models from search queries.

“We are releasing that enhancement globally later this week and are committed to providing our customers with all the information they need to travel with confidence.”

Late on Wednesday, the US' Federal Aviation Authority became the last major nation to ground the jets.

“The FAA is ordering the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operated by US airlines or in US territory. The agency made this decision as a result of the data gathering process and new evidence collected at the site and analysed today,” the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.

“This evidence, together with newly refined satellite data available to FAA this morning, led to this decision.”

Reports have since emerged of several pilots raising concerns over the aircraft. Pilots on at least two US flights reported autopilot systems in use on the 737 MAX 8 seemed to cause their planes to tilt downwards and lose altitude suddenly.

The pilot reports were filed last year in a database compiled by Nasa. They are voluntary safety reports and do not publicly reveal the names of pilots, the airlines or the location of the incidents.

Boeing continues to say that it has “full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX” aircraft, but has grounded them “out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety”.

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