China plane crash leaves 132 dead. How common are Boeing 737 crashes?
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(NewsNation) — China has grounded all of China Eastern’s Boeing 737-800s fleet as crews search for the 132 victims in Monday’s plane crash, state media reported.
No survivors have been found among the 123 passengers and nine crew members. The crash Monday of a China Eastern flight comes after years free of major air disasters. The country has not reported a crash of a commercial flight with more than five fatalities since 2010. The ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, also has suffered fatal crashes, but few details are available.
Boeing 737-800s make up about 17% of all planes operating worldwide, according to aviation consultancy Cirium, and is considered one of the “workhorses” of the airline industry.
The Boeing 737-800s has only had 11 fatal accidents in its 25-year history, according to Cirium. Compare to something like the Boeing 737 Max, which is designed to replace the next-generation planes like the one in this crash. The Max has had two fatal accidents since its introduction in 2016, caused by a poorly designed computer system, and was grounded for a year over safety concerns.
Workers and security personnel talk with a journalist reporting near a cordoned off area for the relatives of victims aboard China Eastern’s flight MU5735, in the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. No survivors have been found as rescuers on Tuesday searched the scattered wreckage of a China Eastern plane carrying 132 people that crashed a day earlier on a wooded mountainside in China’s worst air disaster in more than a decade. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
A woman reacts as she prepares to leave an area for relatives of the passengers aboard China Eastern’s flight MU5735 at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Guangzhou. No survivors have been found as rescuers on Tuesday searched the scattered wreckage of a China Eastern plane carrying 132 people that crashed a day earlier on a wooded mountainside in China’s worst air disaster in more than a decade. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
In this image taken from video footage run by China’s CCTV, rescuers and soldiers conduct search operations at the site of a plane crash in Tengxian County in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Mud-stained wallets. Bank cards. Official identity cards. Some of the personal effects of 132 lives presumed lost were lined up by rescue workers scouring a remote mountainside Tuesday for the wreckage of a China Eastern plane that one day earlier inexplicably fell from the sky and burst into a huge fireball. (CCTV via AP Video) 
In this image taken from video footage run by China’s CCTV, rescuers and soldiers conduct search operations at the site of a plane crash in Tengxian County in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Mud-stained wallets. Bank cards. Official identity cards. Some of the personal effects of 132 lives presumed lost were lined up by rescue workers scouring a remote mountainside Tuesday for the wreckage of a China Eastern plane that one day earlier inexplicably fell from the sky and burst into a huge fireball. (CCTV via AP Video) 
In this image taken from video footage run by China’s CCTV, soldiers conduct search operations at the site of a plane crash in Tengxian County in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Mud-stained wallets. Bank cards. Official identity cards. Some of the personal effects of 132 lives presumed lost were lined up by rescue workers scouring a remote mountainside Tuesday for the wreckage of a China Eastern plane that one day earlier inexplicably fell from the sky and burst into a huge fireball. (CCTV via AP Video) 
In this image taken from video footage run by China’s CCTV, debris marked by numbers is seen at the site of a plane crash in Tengxian County in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Mud-stained wallets. Bank cards. Official identity cards. Some of the personal effects of 132 lives presumed lost were lined up by rescue workers scouring a remote mountainside Tuesday for the wreckage of a China Eastern plane that one day earlier inexplicably fell from the sky and burst into a huge fireball. (CCTV via AP Video) 
In this image taken from video footage run by China’s CCTV, police tape cordons off debris at the site of a plane crash in Tengxian County in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Mud-stained wallets. Bank cards. Official identity cards. Some of the personal effects of 132 lives presumed lost were lined up by rescue workers scouring a remote mountainside Tuesday for the wreckage of a China Eastern plane that one day earlier inexplicably fell from the sky and burst into a huge fireball. (CCTV via AP Video) 
A fire department vehicle arrives with equipment at the entrance to Lv village which leads to the site of a plane crash, Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in southwestern China’s Guangxi province. The crash of a Boeing 737-800 passenger jet in China’s southwest started a fire big enough to be seen from space and forced rescuers to search a rugged, remote mountainside. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
Government workers control access at the entrance to Lv village which leads to the site of the China Eastern plane crash, Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in southwestern China’s Guangxi province. The crash of a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 passenger jet in China’s southwest started a fire big enough to be seen from space and forced rescuers to search a rugged, remote mountainside. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
In this image taken from video footage run by China’s CCTV, debris is surrounded by police tape and marked number at the site of a plane crash in Tengxian County in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Mud-stained wallets. Bank cards. Official identity cards. Some of the personal effects of 132 lives presumed lost were lined up by rescue workers scouring a remote mountainside Tuesday for the wreckage of a China Eastern plane that one day earlier inexplicably fell from the sky and burst into a huge fireball. (CCTV via AP Video)
It’s important to note the 737-800 does not use the same software system that caused the crashes on the MAX line. But Chinese investigators will be looking at any potential issues with the equipment or software on board that would cause that sudden crash.
Aviation experts said it is unusual to ground an entire fleet of planes unless there is evidence of a problem with the model. China has more 737-800s than any other country — nearly 1,200 — and if identical planes at other Chinese airlines are grounded, it “could have a significant impact on domestic travel,” said aviation consultant IBA.
China Eastern is, along with Air China, China Southern Airlines and HNA Group, one of four major carriers in China, all state-owned. Founded in 1995, the airline is headquartered at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport. Its fleet of 749 aircraft includes 291 from the Boeing 737 series, according to its mid-2021 interim report. The carrier has 79,913 employees, mostly in China. It carried 44.3 million passengers in the first half of 2021. China Eastern reported a loss of 5.4 billion yuan ($850 million) in the first half of 2021.
Carriers have suffered heavy financial losses as the government tries to eliminate COVID-19 with a “zero tolerance” strategy that bars most foreign visitors from China and has disrupted travel by suspending access temporarily to major cities. Passenger numbers within China exceeded the United States in 2020 for the first time, according to Boeing Co. That was partly because populous China reopened to domestic travel relatively quickly after the initial coronavirus outbreak. Boeing forecasts 5.4% annual traffic growth and says China should account for one-sixth of future added airline capacity.
