Boeing's Promised 737 Max Production Halt Begins
Boeing Corp. has officially ceased production of the 737 Max — at least for now.
The airline manufacturer had announced last month it would stop making the troubled craft at least until it was no longer grounded, but hadn’t set a date. However the line has officially stopped producing planes while Boeing officials wait for regulators to give it the OK to fly again.
The model has been forbidden to fly by numerous regulatory agencies worldwide since design flaws emerged after two crashes that killed more than 300 people.
The latest update estimated the grounding would last through at least mid-2020, Boeing said in a statement Tuesday.
“Returning the MAX safely to service is our number one priority, and we are confident that will happen,” the company said. “We acknowledge and regret the continued difficulties that the grounding of the 737 MAX has presented to our customers, our regulators, our suppliers, and the flying public.”
While Boeing workers won’t be laid off because of the shutdown, companies at its supply chain are already feeling the pain, CNN reported. In addition, shutting down production will make starting up again, and thus the company’s recovery from this crisis, more problematic, CNN said.
The plane has been grounded since last March after two crashes just five months apart – the October 2018 Lion Air crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people, and the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines flight plunge in which 157 people perished — and a slew of problems have kept it there. The end is nowhere in sight.
“The FAA’s first priority is safety, and we are committed to a philosophy of continuous improvement,” Federal Aviation Administration head Steve Dickson said in a statement Thursday re-emphasizing the agency’s stance on the plane and speaking to a review under way of the FAA’s aircraft certification processes.
“The agency is following a thorough, deliberate process to verify that all proposed modifications to the Boeing 737 MAX meet the highest certification standards,” the FAA told ABC News. “We have set no time frame for when the work will be completed.”
The company has continued to make planes and now has about 400 of them finished and waiting for delivery to airlines once they’re allowed to fly.
Boeing’s stock sank on the news about the construction halt even before it was official, ABC News said, with the price falling 5.5% before trading halted. The company said more news about the planes and its efforts to fix the bugs in the beleaguered jet next week.
“We will provide additional information about our efforts to safely return the 737 MAX to service in connection with our quarterly financial disclosures next week,” Boeing said.
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