Daily US Times, Seattle: Boeing said it would halt production of its 737 Max airliner in January. The plane has a very troubled past which cost many lives.

Two Boeing 737 Max crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Following the crashes, the model has been grounded since last nine months. Production of the model had continued even though it has been being grounded worldwide.

More than 300 people died in two 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. It’s been reported that the crashes occurred by a software bug in the airplane.

After the second crash in Ethiopia in March 2019, the entire fleet of the model has been grounded worldwide.

Boeing has been hoping to have the aircraft back in the air by the end of this year. But it is yet to seen progress from the customers’ end to make the aircraft fly.

US regulators also made it clear that they would not quickly certify the aircraft to return to the skies.

Boeing is the largest exporter of the US. The company said they would not sack the workers associated with 737 Max production, but the stoppage is likely to affect suppliers and the wider economy.

Boeing said in a statement, ‘Safely returning the 737 Max to service is our top priority. We know that the process of approving the 737 Max’s return to service, and of determining appropriate training requirements, must be extraordinarily thorough and robust, to ensure that our regulators, customers, and the flying public have confidence in the 737 Max updates.’

The Federal Aviation Authority’s analysis suggested if the design of the plane is not changed, there could be more than dozen more crashes over the lifetime of the aircraft.

Travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said the decision to suspend production was unprecedented and likely to have a ‘massive impact on Boeing, its suppliers and the airlines’.

He said ‘It’s really going to create some chaos for the airlines that are involved in this as well as the six-hundred or so companies that are part of the 737-Max supply chain and Boeing itself.’

The suspension of the aircraft has already cost Boeing around $9 billion. Its share feels more than 4 per cent amid the speculation the company would declare 737 Max production suspension.

Boeing has 400 737 Max in storage what the company would focus on delivering to customers. But many airlines across the globe halted the delivery to allow Boeing’s engineers to develop software fixes.