Boeing’s stock drops as investors assess fallout from 737 Max incident

Boeing’s share price fell sharply on Monday, in the first trading session after part of the fuselage of one of its 737 Max 9 jets blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday night. Boeing’s share prices fell about 8%, and Spirit AeroSystems, which made the door plug that was torn from the plane, saw its stock drop by about 11% by the end of the day on Monday. The Alaska Airlines flight departing from Portland, Ore., lost the mid-cabin door plug midair, exposing passengers to howling winds and forcing an emergency landing. None of the 171 passengers and six crew members aboard were seriously injured. The FAA has ordered US airlines to ground certain Boeing 737 Max 9 planes configured similarly to the one used by Alaska. The NTAB is investigating the incident. United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, the heaviest users of the Max 9, canceled more than 350 flights on Monday, representing 8% of United’s schedule and 20% of Alaska’s, according to FlightAware. Other airlines with Max 9 planes in their fleets are outside the United States, such as Copa Airlines of Panama, Turkish Airlines and Icelandair. Those planes may not be subject to the same regulatory action. The European Union’s aviation safety agency announced on Monday that the Max 9 jets operating in Europe were not grounded because they had a different configuration than the Alaska Airline jet that was forced to make an emergency landing. Boeing said early Monday morning that it had issued instructions for how airlines should conduct inspections of the plane. Spirit AeroSystems said in a statement on Monday that it is “a committed partner with Boeing on the 737 program, and we continue to work together with them on this matter.” While investors were spooked, few analysts expected the financial damage to Boeing and others to persist, based on what they had seen from regulators and the companies after the Alaska Airlines incident.<br/>