This is a different plane from the Boeing 737 Max, which was in the headlines after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which killed hundreds of people in 2018 and 2019 respectively. A software fault was found to have caused those incidents and the model was grounded worldwide for 18 months.

The American company is already reeling from years of safety crises, whistleblower scandals, financial haemorrhaging, and regulatory scrutiny that has seen a crisis in passenger confidence

Fatal crash raises new concerns for both firms as they try to revamp after years of problems that marred reputations.