Ethiopian Airline crash

A plane crash that killed 157 people in Ethiopia on Sunday morning is likely to aggravate concerns over the safety of one of Boeing’s newest commercial jets, aviation analysts say. The incident comes as the company faces intense scrutiny about another deadly plane crash the same 737 MAX 8 model.

Boeing faces lawsuits filed by the families of at least two dozen victims.

In a memo to staffers after that crash, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg wrote, “We’re going to learn from this accident and continue to improve our safety record.”

With the Addis Ababa investigation in its earliest phases, it is too early to know whether that crash was caused by the same problems that doomed the Lion Air flight in Indonesia. Ethiopian Airlines said its investigators, the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority and the Ethiopian Transport Authority will conduct an inquiry “in collaboration with all stakeholders including the aircraft manufacturer Boeing” to determine the cause.The 737 MAX 8 has been a major profit driver for Boeing since it was introduced in 2017, and it is critical to Boeing’s broader international ambitions as it competes with Airbus, its European rival in the commercial airline business.