Impact of the '737 Max' Plane Crashes on Boeing Sales

Sales of Boeing aircraft in the first quarter of this year have sharply declined, and in the last month (March), orders for the '737 Max' model, which recently experienced two catastrophic crashes, have completely stopped. According to the official Boeing website, sales of the 737 Max model reached 89 units in the first quarter of 2019, while in the same period last year, this figure was 132 units. The Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crashed shortly after takeoff on March 10 in the fields around Addis Ababa, the capital. It has been reported that there was a malfunction during the ascent, causing the nose to hit the ground. All 157 passengers on board were killed, coming from 30 different countries. A Boeing 737 Max belonging to Lion Air in Indonesia also crashed in October, resulting in 189 fatalities. Many countries around the world halted Boeing 737 Max flights following the Ethiopian Airlines incident, and Boeing's report indicates that no country has placed an order for this model in the past month. Orders for the Boeing 737 during the first quarter of the year totaled only 95 units, whereas in the same period last year, it was 180 units. The Boeing 737 Max has been the company's best-selling aircraft in recent years. Total sales of all types of Boeing passenger aircraft in the current quarter were 145 units. Besides manufacturing airplanes, Boeing also provides flight services and has a fleet of 963 aircraft, of which 24 are of the 737 Max type. Following the Ethiopian Airlines incident, the U.S. has canceled 1,200 Boeing flights, and this ban will continue until June 5, when the investigations into the crashes are expected to conclude. However, it is still unclear whether the investigations will be completed by that date and whether the issues with these aircraft will be resolved, and Boeing itself states that it is uncertain what the company's revenue outlook will be in the future. Boeing has announced that it has temporarily halted sales of the 737 Max and reduced its production by 20%. The company had previously planned to produce 57 units of the 737 Max per month this year, but now intends to reduce this number to 42 units to address the flight issues in the future.