Boeing suffering huge sell-off on 737 safety fears
BILLIONS of dollars were wiped off the value of Boeing last night after the second deadly crash involving one of its jets in five months.
shares in the New York-listed plane maker dived as much as 13.5pc – their biggest fall since the 9/11 terror attacks – amid calls for all Boeing 737 Max 8 domestic flights to be suspended. airline regulators in China, indonesia and Ethiopia have grounded the jets, along with carriers such as Cayman airways.
an Ethiopian airlines flight bound for Nairobi crashed on sunday minutes after taking off from the country’s capital, addis ababa, killing all 157 on board. another 737 Max 8 aircraft flown by low- cost indonesian airline Lion air crashed soon after taking off from Jakarta in October, killing 189 passengers and crew.
Boeing said a technical team will travel to the Ethiopian crash site to provide technical assistance. it added that as the investigation into the crash is in its early stages, there is no need to issue new guidance to operators of its 737 Max 8 aircraft.
Ethiopian airlines said it has recovered the black-box cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data from the wreckage.
at least nine Britons were on board the plane, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
The 737 Max line of planes is an upgraded version of Boeing’s original 737 and has become the company’s fastest-selling plane.
Boeing said in a statement: ‘ We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the passengers and crew on Ethiopian airlines flight 302, a 737 Max 8 aeroplane.
‘We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew on board and stand ready to support the Ethiopian airlines team.’
Boeing’s share price lost 12pc in the aftermath of the Lion air crash last year, but had more than recovered those losses by the time of the Ethiopian crash.
shares fell sharply in off-market trading on sunday night and yesterday morning. They clawed back some lost ground to close down 5.3pc, at around $400 – wiping about £9bn off the Chicago-headquartered company’s market value.
Many investors saw the initial drop in stock as an opportunity to pick shares up at a sudden discount.
Marc szepan, aviation industry expert at the University of Oxford’s said Business school, said: ‘Two essentially newly delivered aircraft of a new aircraft type crashing within a six-month period is highly unusual and extremely concerning.
‘ However, it is worthwhile to remember that learning from accidents has been at the core of aviation safety.
‘so whereas it is tempting to draw parallels to other accidents, it is important to not jump to conclusions prematurely.’
The Lion air plane crashed because of problems with an antistalling system, which prevents a plane from pointing upwards at too high an angle. During the flight, the system kept forcing the plane’s nose down even when it was not stalling, indonesian investigators found.