China's civil aviation regulator suspends operations of all Boeing 737-8 planes

China's civil aviation regulator said on Monday that it has asked domestic airlines to suspend the commercial operations of all Boeing 737-8 planes by 6:00 p.m. local time (1000 GMT), a day after a deadly crash of a 737 MAX 8 by Ethiopian Airlines. The Ethiopian Airlines aircraft is the same model that crashed into the Java Sea shortly after take-off from Jakarta on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people on board the Lion Air flight.

"Given that two accidents both involved newly delivered Boeing 737-8 planes and happened during take-off phase, they have some degree of similarity," the Civil Aviation Administration of China said, adding that they took the move in line with the regulator's principle of zero-tolerance to safety hazards. 

(With inputs from agencies.)