“We’re going to be ordering an emergency order to ground all 737 MAX 8 and the 737 MAX 9 and planes associated with that line,” the President announced at the White House, on Wednesday.
“Any plane currently in the air will go to its destination and thereafter be grounded until further notice. So planes that are in the air will be grounded, if they’re the 737 MAX, will be grounded upon landing at the destination.”
It comes after a plane crash in Ethiopia which was carrying 149 passengers from 35 countries and eight crew members.
The move came as the US was the only major country not to have already grounded the flights following two similar, deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
More than 40 countries including the entire EU have suspended flights by the plane.
According to the Flightradar24 tracking website, two Turkish Airlines planes turned for home as Britain and a host of other European countries announced a ban on the jet in the wake of Sunday's Ethiopian Airlines disaster.
How to check if you're on a Boeing 737 Max 8
A quick Google search will bring up your flight number and possibly the type of plane scheduled to be used.
If this isn't listed, get in touch with the airline by phone or the internet to ask what plane is used one that route.
The airline's website should be able to tell you if you have already booked a trip using your booking reference.
You can also check an aviation tracking website or app such as Flightradar24 and FlightAware.
This will require a flight number to find out which plane or planes are typically used on a certain route.
Alternatively, use the plane's registration number to look up details, including the type of plane and how old it is, on a public database run by a civil aviation body.
In the UK, this means checking the Civil Aviation Authority's website.
France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Ireland today became the latest countries to ban the planes from the air.
Boeing itself said it had "full confidence" in the safety of the 737 MAX fleet.
The company said: "We understand that regulatory agencies and customers have made decisions that they believe are most appropriate for their home markets.
"We'll continue to engage with them to ensure they have the information needed to have confidence in operating their fleets."
China ordered its airlines to ground the planes — they had 96 MAX 8 jets in service, more than one-fourth of the roughly 370 MAX jets in circulation.
The European Aviation Safety Agency said that “at this early stage” of the more recent investigation, “it cannot be excluded that similar causes may have contributed to both events.”
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