Boeing stock is in free-fall on Wednesday afternoon after US President Donald Trump announced that he had instructed the Federal Aviation Administration to halt all Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 9 flights following the Sunday crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302.
“All of those planes are grounded, effective immediately,” Trump said at the White House, adding that the FAA would provide more details in the coming hours.
BREAKING: President Trump says Boeing 737 Max 8 and 9 planes will be grounded, after two deadly crashes within six months https://t.co/H9n7JKbYS7 pic.twitter.com/k33Yr6aCIv
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 13, 2019
Boeing shares had already been rocked during the week’s first two trading sessions as a succession of airlines and governments suspended flights involving 737 MAX 8 planes, one of which was also involved in the October 2018 Lion Air flight 610 crash that killed 189 people.
Boeing shares continued to fall after President Trump halted 737 MAX 8 and 9 flights. | Source: Yahoo Finance
On Tuesday, Trump had seemed to attribute the crashes to the rising complexity of aircraft automation software, while the FAA said that the 737 MAX 8 remained airworthy pending a future mandatory software upgrade.
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