Some of the grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 9 planes are finding a temporary home in Windsor following near worldwide bans.
On Wednesday, both Canada and the US.. announced the aircraft would be temporarily grounded in North America, citing concerns stemming from a deadly plane crash in Ethiopia on Sunday that killed 157 people, including 18 Canadians.
CTV Windsor has learned Windsor International Airport is currently holding five of the grounded aircraft and could potentially see as many as 10 parked on its property.
“We’ll have between six and ten on the ground,” says Dave Robertson, vice president of operations manager of AAR. “People driving by will be able to see them sitting on the ramp and all around the airport here.”
The first Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane landed in Windsor late Wednesday afternoon, with no passengers on board, after the federal government banned the plane from Canadian airspace.
“We service several of the Canadian operators so, they reached out to us to see if we had places for them to park the aircraft and, of course, we help out our customers just like everybody else does,” says Robertson.
Boeing doesn’t fly commercially out of Windsor, but its aircraft are regular visitors to the Rose City.
AAR has five maintenance and repair facilities in the U.S. and in Canada.
In total, there are 41 Boeing MAX 8 planes in Canada.
— with files from CTV Windsor's Bob Belacicco
