Grounded elsewhere, Boeing Max jets fly in Las Vegas, U.S.

By Bryan Horwath

Tuesday, March 12, 2019 | 3:21 p.m.

As concern over the safety of the Boeing 737 Max 8 jet continued to spread today around the globe, it was business as usual at the Las Vegas airport.

While Britain, France and Germany joined a growing number of countries today grounding the plane involved in two recent crashes, it continues to fly in the U.S. and was flying in and out of McCarran International Airport as usual.

Christine Crews, a spokeswoman for McCarran, said two carriers — Southwest and WestJet — operate the 737 Max 8 in and out of Las Vegas.

“It’s safe to say that there is at least one 737 Max operation scheduled for today,” Crews said. “With that said, airlines make daily, if not hourly, operational decisions and changes involving their schedules and equipment.”

Crews said nearly 650 flights of the Max 8 were on McCarran’s schedule this month. The Max 8 and the larger Max 9, however, account for only about 2 percent of scheduled flights to and from McCarran this month.

According to the Associated Press, Turkish Airlines, Oman, Norwegian Air Shuttle and South Korean airline Eastar Jet were among the latest today to ground the Max 8.

Ireland, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia and Singapore suspended all flights into or out of their airspace.

Southwest spokesman Dan Landson said it was business as usual for the airline.

“The (Max 8) flies throughout the Southwest network on a daily basis,” Landson said. “Since our fleet types are interchangeable, the (Max) can serve any of our locations and it is not based in any particular city or region.”

Acting FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell said in a statement today that a review of the 737 Max “thus far shows no systemic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding aircraft.” If circumstances change, the FAA will take “immediate and appropriate action,” he said.