Boeing commercial aircraft deliveries fall nearly one-fifth after 737 Max crashes

Deliveries of Boeing commercial jets plummeted in the first quarter of 2018, as airlines around the world recoiled from the second fatal crash of its flagship 737 Max model in less than six months.

In the first indication of how hard the world’s biggest plane maker has been hit by the fallout, Boeing said total commercial plane deliveries fell 19 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, down from 184 units in the first three months of last year to 149 this time around.

The manufacturer delivered just 89 of the 737 Max planes, down on 132 planes in the same period last year and 173 in the final quarter of 2018.

The sharp decline comes after it halted deliveries of the 737 Max, its best-selling jet, in the wake of an Ethiopian Airlines crash involving the model which killed 157 people. It came months after a similar crash in Indonesia, involving another 737 Max operated by Lion Air, which killed 189 people.

Boeing shares were down 1.32 per cent this afternoon, valued at $369.58, as investors got the first look at how much the incident had affected the company's bottom line. Full first quarter results are due later this month.

Boeing said last week it would scale down production of the plane to 42 units a month from mid-April, down from the previous rate of 52 planes a month. Subsequently, major suppliers to the plane maker including Rolls-Royce have lost millions from their market value as investors fear a downturn in business.

American Airlines admitted this afternoon it too had been hit by the fallout from the incidents, cutting its forecasts for the first quarter.

The airline said the grounding of the jet, combined with the US government shutdown, had pushed its revenue per available seat mile down. Its new projection is for revenue to be flat to up one per cent, compared with a prior forecast of being flat to up two per cent.