Boeing shares fell 8 percent in early trade on Monday after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding of some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.
On Friday, an Alaska Airlines flight tore off the left side of the plane during takeoff after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, and the pilots landed safely with 171 passengers and six crew members on board. Reuters. ».
Boeing is a rival to European giant Airbus, which has expanded its market share since two Boeing Max planes crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing nearly 350 people. Worldwide for 20 months.
In early Monday trading, Airbus shares were up 1.25 percent. It will announce this week that it delivered 735 aircraft last year, industry sources said
Airbus declined to comment on its annual performance before the January 11 business update.
Boeing shares pared some of their early losses in Frankfurt, falling 6.5 percent by 08:35 (GMT).
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said Sunday that the company's response to the crash was its main focus at the moment as regulators conducted an investigation.
The planemaker also plans to hold a company-wide safety webcast on Tuesday to address its response. It also canceled a leadership summit for the company's vice presidents earlier scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
The Boeing plane that exploded while flying over Oregon on Sunday was not used on flights to Hawaii, a federal official said Sunday.
National Transportation Safety Board President Jennifer Homandy said Alaska Airlines decided to stop long flights over water so the plane could return to the airport more quickly if the warning light came back on.
Homendi cautioned that the pressure light may not be related to Friday's crash, when a plug covering an unused exit door of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 exploded while it was traveling three miles (4.8 kilometers) in Oregon.
The warning light had been activated on three previous trips: December 7, January 3 and 4, the day before the door plug broke. Homendi said he did not have all the details of the Dec. 7 incident, but he determined the light appeared during a flight on Jan. 3 and 4 after the plane landed.
* Vistara confirms delivery of Boeing aircraft
In a parallel, Indian airline Vistara on Monday said it was confident it would receive its 787 wide-body planes from Boeing by March or April, despite the recent crash of the narrow-body 737 MAX. Part of the fuselage was lost.
Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan said in a media call on Monday that the company will reach a fleet size of 70 aircraft by March or April 2024, ahead of the earlier schedule of end-2024.
He said the company expects to get all regulatory approvals for the merger with the largest airline Air India in the first half of 2024 and merge operations by mid-2025.
Kannan explained that Vistara is closely monitoring developments related to the 737 MAX 9, but he clarified that Sunday's accident involving a new Alaska Airlines plane will not affect them.
“Award-winning beer geek. Extreme coffeeaholic. Introvert. Avid travel specialist. Hipster-friendly communicator.”
