The US plane-maker is adjusting the production rates of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, dropping from 52 to 42 aircraft each month from the middle of April. Boeing says that reducing the rate to 42 aircraft a month will ensure production teams will remain employed.
Boeing’s decision to reduce production has hit the share prices of bother Boeing and a number of its suppliers on Monday. Boeing's shares went down in value by about 2.7% while shares in Safran, Meggitt and Melrose all seeing falls between 1% to 2.5%.
Deliveries of the 737 Max aircraft have been on hold since aviation safety bodies around the world banned the type from flying in their airspace following two fatal crashes in the space of five months. The last major national air safety board to ground the jet was the FAA from the US who supposedly certified the aircraft safe to fly, however, there was a large amount of self-certification by Boeing regarding its Max variety of 737.
On Friday 5th April, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg issued a statement saying "safety is our responsibility, and we own it." which many in the industry are considering is the problem, "safety isn't the sole responsibility of the manufacturer, it shouldn't be 'owned' by them, if any organisation should at all that should 'own' safety it should be the regulators. The problem self-certification even for the most simplest of things is that it opens the door to actual or perceived less rigorous checks." Our chief aviation correspondent Jason Shaw said.
