Boeing reduces Max 737 production after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia

Boeing will reduce production from 52 to 42 per month
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Jacob Jarvis6 April 2019

Boeing is scaling down production of its 737 Max amid safety concerns following two fatal collisions involving the jets.

The company will cut its production of the crafts down from 52 to 42 per month.

This scale down will allow it to focus on the flight-control software that has been implicated in the crashes.

It comes after Boeing suspended deliveries of the Max last month after regulators around the world grounded the jet.

Preliminary reports into the deadly accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia found faulty sensor readings erroneously triggered an anti-stall system that pushed the plane's nose down.

After this pilots of each plane struggled in vain to regain control over the automated system.

In total 346 people died in the crashes and Boeing faces a growing number of lawsuits filed by families of the victims.

Boeing will also set up a special board committee to review aeroplane design and development, it announced.

Boeing previously acknowledged a second software issue has emerged that needs fixing on the Max.

However, a Boeing spokesman called it a "relatively minor issue" and said the plane maker already has a fix in the works.

Chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg described the production cut as temporary and a response to the suspension of Max deliveries.

He explained the reduction was designed to keep a healthy production system and maintain current employment.

Previously, Indonesia's Garuda Airlines has said it will cancel an order for 49 Max jets.

Other airlines, including Lion Air, whose Max 8 crashed off the coast of Indonesia on October 29, have raised the possibility of cancelling.

A Boeing source said the production cut was not linked to cancellations.

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