FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles approaches to land at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States over safety issues in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

PARIS (Reuters) - Ethiopian investigators will lead the next stage of cockpit data analysis from the Boeing 737 MAX that crashed outside Addis Ababa with U.S. and French support, a person familiar with the investigation said.

The decision means control of the sensitive data will stay in Addis Ababa where U.S. and European regulators and investigators, as well as manufacturer Boeing, are providing technical assistance.

Asked afterwards about the arrangements for analyzing the data, France’s BEA air accident investigation agency later confirmed the reported plans.