JAKARTA, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian carrier Sriwijaya Air cancelled an order of two Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in the wake of two crashes involving similar types of the aircraft within six months, a top official of the airline said on Thursday.
The decision came after the crashes of an Ethiopian Airline plane on March 10 that killed all 157 people and an airliner operated by Indonesia's Lion Air on Oct. 29 that left 189 people dead.
Based on the information collected from flight data recorders, the two tragedies have indicated similarity in its causes, according to Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges.
"We cancel the orders, and right now we are evaluating whether to switch the orders to Airbus or keep buying other types of plane with Boeing," President Director of Sriwijaya Air Joseph Saul said.
Two Boeing 737 Max 8 jet planes ordered by the airline with the value of 120 million U.S. dollars were scheduled to be delivered by 2020, he was quoted by the local media as saying.
Lion Air has sought to abort its 22-billion-U.S. dollar order of 211 Boeing 737 Max planes and switch them with other types of Boeing planes.
Indonesia's biggest carrier Garuda Indonesia also dropped an order of 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes.
The Indonesian Transport Ministry has grounded all Boeing 737 Max 8 passenger planes operating in the country after the two fatal incidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
