An American Airlines Group Inc. Boeing Corp. 737 Max 8 aircraft approaches during landing at Miami International Airport (MIA) in Miami, Florida, U.S., on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. Since shortly after the dawn of the jet age, the world has followed the U.S.'s lead on aviation safety. Now, in a remarkable rebuke, nations from the U.K. to Australia have rejected public reassurances from the Federal Aviation Administration and grounded Boeing Co.'s 737 Max jet. Photographer: Scott McIntyre/Bloomberg By David Shepardson and Doina Chiacu
"With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice," it said in a statement.
U.S. airline stocks rose on the announcement.
The State Department issued updated country-travel specific alerts, including "Level Four: Do Not Travel" advisories for about 30 countries, including India, Russia, Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Haiti, Iran, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Honduras and Libya.
The State Department also issued numerous new "Level 3: reconsider travel" advisories, including for members of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Armenia, the Philippines, Laos and Australia.
The United States has barred most non-U.S. citizens from many parts of the world from traveling to the United States, including from the EU and China. China has been on the State Department's "Do Not Travel" advisory since June.
The State Department first issued the Global Level 4 "Do Not Travel" Health Advisory on March 19. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Shepardson Editing by Chris Reese and Sonya Hepinstall)