The US agency that regulates civil aviation has said it followed "standard" procedures in certifying the Boeing jetliner whose anti-stall systems have come under scrutiny after disastrous crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
"The 737-MAX certification program followed the FAA's standard certification process," the Federal Aviation Administration said in an email to AFP on Sunday.
It said its procedures were "well established and have consistently produced safe aircraft designs." But reported similarities between the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737-Max, killing all 157 on board, and the Lion Air crash in October of the same plane in Indonesia, killing 189, have raised doubts about the plane.
The 737-MAX is a relatively new plane, having entered service only in May 2017 as Boeing's answer to Airbus's medium-haul A320 Neo.
Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said Sunday that a study of the flight data recorder retrieved from the Ethiopian plane had shown "clear similarities" to that of the Lion Air flight in Indonesia.
She said the parallels would be the "subject of further study.
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