How Boeing 737 Flights Came to an End

After the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and the death of 189 people, countries around the world began grounding Boeing 737's. In the days after the crash I saw a lot of links to real-time flight tracking websites, such as FlightRadar24, to show areas around the world where the Boeing 737 had been grounded and where flights of the plane were coming to a stop.

When the USA grounded the plane on March 13th the plane was effectively grounded worldwide. The New York Times has used data from FlightRadar24 to create an animated map which shows how the grounding of the Boeing 737 spread around the world after the crash of Flight 302 on March 10th right up until the FAA's suspension of flights on March 13th.

From 8,600 Flights to Zero: Grounding the Boeing 737 Max 8 shows flight paths used by Boeing 737's around the world. On the map the active flight paths are shown in blue and the flight paths where flights have been grounded are shown in orange. As the map animates through time from March 10th to March 13th you can see the grounded flights (shown in orange) spread across the world until flights come to an almost complete halt


Despite the suspension of commercial flights there have been some flights of Boeing 737 planes around the USA since March 13th. Airlines have flown Boeing 737s from one location to another location where they want the planes to be stored during the suspension. Boeing itself has continued to run test flights from its facility in Renton, Washington.

You can view an animated map of Boeing 737 flights over the United States on Bloomberg's animated map Where Boeing’s 737 Max Planes Go When They’re Grounded. This map shows Being 737 planes flying across America from March 12th through March 17th. On March 12th you can view an almost normal day of flights of Boeing 737 planes. On the 13th the flights almost grind to a halt after the FAA grounded the plane. On the following days you can view the few flights of Boeing 737 planes that took place as airlines moved planes around and Boeing continued running test flights.