Wellington, Mar 13 (AFP) New Zealand's aviation watchdog joined counterparts worldwide on Wednesday in banning Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from its airspace in the wake of a deadly plane crash in Ethiopia.

New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it was imposing the temporary suspension after consultation with other regulators.

"The CAA's assessment has taken into consideration the level of uncertainty regarding the cause of the recent Ethiopian Airlines accident plus its review of the aircraft design," the CAA said in a statement.

The regulator said only one airline, Fiji Airways, flew the 737 MAX to New Zealand.

Flag carrier Air New Zealand does not have any of the aircraft in its fleet. On Sunday, a new Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.

The crash came after a Lion Air jet of the same model went down in Indonesia in October, claiming 189 lives. (AFP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)