Boeing’s shares fell on Monday, a day after the deadly crash of a 737-800, a widely used model that is a staple of low-cost airlines, at an airport in South Korea. The passenger plane, operated by Jeju Air, was carrying 181 people, and all but two were killed.
Shares of Boeing were down more than 4 percent in premarket trading in New York.
South Korea’s transportation ministry said Monday that it would conduct inspections of the 101 Boeing 737-800 planes used by airlines in the country, including Jeju Air. The inspections were set to start Monday and be completed by Friday.
South Korea’s deputy transport minister, Joo Jong-wan, said at a news briefing that the inspections will look at maintenance records of major systems, including engines and landing gear.
Boeing said in a statement on Sunday that it was in contact with Jeju Air and was ready to help the airline. Jeju Air’s stock fell 8.7 percent at the close of trading in Seoul on Monday.
“The accident’s root cause could be among several factors,” Myles Walton, an analyst at Wolfe Research, wrote in a note, adding that workmanship and design weren’t likely to blame. Still, “commercial aerospace’s infrequent but sometimes catastrophic accidents” present unique risks for aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, he wrote.
Boeing’s shares have lost about 30 percent of their value this year, as the company has faced labor strife, questions about quality control, mounting debt and supply chain issues.
In January, a panel blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight, resurfacing concerns about the safety of Boeing planes five years after two fatal crashes of the Max, a successor to the 737-800. Some 33,000 Boeing workers walked off the job for two months starting in September. And the company’s chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, who took over this summer, announced plans in October to restructure the company, including by cutting about 17,000 jobs, or 10 percent of Boeing’s global work force.
Boeing’s 737-800 line of planes has a stellar safety record, aviation experts said. Nearly 200 airlines worldwide use the plane, which has been flying for more than 25 years. Thousands of the aircraft are in circulation, accounting for about one in seven passenger planes in service around the world, according to Cirium, an aviation data firm.
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