Is Boeing 737 MAX 8S safe to fly?

As no survivors are found on the site of Ethiopian Airlines crash, people are visibly concerned and asking if Boeing 737 MAX 8S is safe to fly? And the question is a legit one, considering it's not the first accident that has happened to this new airliner. In October 2018 an Indonesian airliner, The Lion Air, crashed into the sea killing all of its passengers. Both of these crashes took place during the first minutes of the flight. While at this point no connection between the two accidents has been found, it's quite uncommon for a new advanced airplane to have such history already. China, Indonesia, and Ethiopia have all grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8S from flying.

Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft crashed Sunday (March 10, 2019) in Ethiopia killing all 157 people on board.

As Boeing 737 Max 8 is a new airplane, there are currently just around 350 such aircraft in operation worldwide. While couple of airlines have grounded their planes, most airlines (among them Tui, American, Southwest) say that they are in close contact with Boeing and at this point don't see a reason for grounding the planes (yet).

While 737 MAX 8 has had two major accidents in a span of just a few months, with both accidents happening within minutes of the takeoff, it would be very irresponsible to say that there is any connection between the reasons of these two crashes. The investigation in case of both of them are ongoing and at least some updates are expected already later today.