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EU bans all Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights from its airspace – Norwegian and Tui impacted

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The UK Civil Aviation Authority banned the Boeing 737 MAX 8 from operating in or over UK airspace on Tuesday afternoon.  In the evening, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency extended the ban to the whole of the EU. 

This follows the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft on Sunday, which was the second MAX 8 crash in five months.  There are currently 350 MAX 8 and MAX 9 aircraft in service globally.

This follows existing bans in Singapore, China, Malaysia, Ethiopia and Australia.  Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Ireland and France have also banned the aircraft on Tuesday before the full EU ban was announced.

UK bans Boeing 737 Max 8

The two main airlines impacted will be Norwegian and Tui.  Tui appears to have received 11 x 737 MAX 8 out of a total order of 54, although only five appear to be in service in the UK at present.  Norwegian has 18 in service out of a total order of 110.

There will be other carriers impacted too – a Turkish Airlines plane was reported to have been made to turn back on the way to the UK – but most airlines will be able to switch their UK services to a different aircraft type.

Air Canada has also cancelled a number of services from Canada to the UK over the next few days.

Other airlines which operate short-haul flights to the UK and which own MAX 8 aircraft include Icelandair, Air Italy and LOT Polish.

British Airways, easyJet, Ryanair and Jet2 do not own any of the aircraft although Ryanair has 135 on order.  BA’s South African franchise, Comair, has one MAX 8 in British Airways livery which has been grounded.

The aircraft is still deemed airworthy by the US Federal Aviation Administration, with Southwest Airlines being the largest operator.  The US is now looking like an outlier, however.

You can read the CAA statement on its website here.  The EASA statement is here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (58)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Ted says:

    My wife and I were booked on a Norwegian MAX from EDI to SWF (Newburgh aka New York Stewart Intl.) next Friday but I received the inevitable text today that the flight had been cancelled.

    After approx. 90 mins on the line with Norwegian’s call centre, I think we’ve had a pretty decent result. We’ve been re-booked on a BA flight from EDI-LGW and then Norwegian from LGW-JFK albeit with a ten hour layover in Gatwick. A chance to try out the Yotel and flying on a widebody with IFE? Yes please! The avgeek in me is delighted 🙂

    As for our return leg (SWF-EDI), operated by a MAX, it is still ‘live’ and hasn’t been cancelled. Something tells me I’ll be chatting to the Norwegian call centre from across the pond…

    The irony is Norwegian are ending this Edinburgh to Stewart route just days after we were due to get back. Looks like this route might already have bitten the dust unfortunately.

    On a side note, Norwegian’s call centre were very good despite them being inundated with calls just now.

    Currently looking for lounge recommendations for LGW – we have two free passes to use from our Amex gold.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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