ORLANDO, Fla. — The United States is now grounding all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, the latest country to do so after a crash in Ethiopia killed 157.

President Trump issued the order Wednesday for the Max 8 and Max 9 models.

The U.S. joins Canada, England, the European Union, and China in grounding the plane.

An Ethiopian Airlines flight taking off from Nairobi on Sunday crashed, killing 157 people on board.

Five months ago, a crash on a Lion Air flight killed 189 people off the coast of Indonesia.

Both planes were Boeing 737 Max 8. 

The Federal Aviation Administration had originally said that while reports drew similarities between the two flights, its investigation was just beginning, and they didn't want to jump the gun by grounding the fleet.

On Wednesday, the FAA said new evidence analyzed at the site of the crash in Nairobi, along with satellite data made available to the FAA on Wednesday morning, led to the decision to ground the fleet.

 

Boeing tweeted out a statement Wednesday in support of the decision:

 In the United States, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines have the two largest fleets of those models.

A Southwest Airlines' spokesperson said it had 34 737 Max 8 planes. The airline sent out the following statement regarding the Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet:

Southwest Airlines is immediately complying with today’s FAA requirement for all U.S. airlines to ground the Boeing 737 MAX 8. As a result, we have removed our 34 MAX 8 aircraft from scheduled service. Southwest operates a fleet of more than 750 Boeing 737s, and the 34 MAX 8 aircraft account for less than five percent of our daily flights.

 

We have been in constant contact with the FAA and Boeing since Ethiopian Airlines’ accident last Sunday. While we remain confident in the MAX 8 after completing more than 88,000 flight hours accrued over 41,000 flights, we support the actions of the FAA and other regulatory agencies and governments across the globe that have asked for further review of the data – including information from the flight data recorder – related to the recent accident involving the MAX 8. The Safety of our Customers and Employees is our uncompromising priority, and today’s action reflects the commitment to supporting the current investigations and regulatory concerns.

Our goal is to operate our schedule with every available aircraft in our fleet to meet our Customers’ expectations during the busy spring travel season. Additionally, to support our Customers, Southwest is offering flexible rebooking policies. Any Customer booked on a cancelled MAX 8 flight can rebook on alternate flights without any additional fees or fare differences within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city pairs. A Travel Advisory with additional information for Customers will be posted on Southwest.com.

“During our 48-year history, Southwest has continuously demonstrated our commitment to Safety,” said Gary Kelly, Southwest’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. “We sincerely appreciate the trust our Customers and Employees place in our airline every day, and the Southwest Team is working diligently to minimize disruptions to our Customers’ travel plans.”

Spectrum News received the following statement from American Airlines:

Earlier today the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) informed us that based on new information, they are grounding the United States Boeing 737 MAX fleet out of an abundance of caution. American Airlines has 24 aircraft affected by this directive. We appreciate the FAA’s partnership, and will continue to work closely with them, the Department of Transportation, National Transportation Safety Board and other regulatory authorities, as well as our aircraft and engine manufacturers. Our teams will be working to rebook customers as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

United Airlines, which has 14 of the planes, is also responding to the news:

 

 This is a developing story. Check back for the latest.