Boeing (BA) shares slumped lower Monday following the crash of a 737-800 passenger jet operated by China's Eastern Airlines.
The six-year old plane was carrying 132 passengers, including crew, on a routine flight between Kunming to Guangzhou when it crashed into mountains in the southern region of the country, China's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) said at around 4 am Eastern time. If fatalities are ultimately confirmed, it will be the first deadly crash of a commercial plane in China since 2010.
The incident could also add further delays to Boeing's return of the grounded 737 MAX aircraft in China, the world's biggest market, as investigators probe the circumstances behind Monday's disaster.
China's President, Xi Jinping, said the government would investigate the incident as soon as possible in order to ensure "absolute" safety in the country's aviation sector. State media also reported the grounding of all 737-800 aircraft during the probe.
Boeing shares were marked 5.4% lower in early trading to change hands at $182.50 each, a move that would extend the stock's year-to-date decline to around 12.2%.
Boeing's 737 had had been set to resume commercial flights in China over the coming weeks after the CAAC issued an "airworthiness directive" on December 2 that provided instructions to airline operators as to what changes are required from the 737 MAX before the planes can be included in fleet operations.
The CAAC, which grounded the MAX in 2019 following the deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, invited domestic carriers to comment on changes to the aircraft's aviation control system software and display last month after concluding it was satisfied with Boeing's modification efforts.
Last year, Boeing said China, the world's second-largest economy but the largest aircraft market, would likely need 8,700 new airplanes over the next two decades, a figure that translates to overall sales of around $1.47 trillion.
A further $1.8 trillion will likely be needed to service both its existing and future fleet additions over the next 20 years, Boeing said.
Boeing's 2021 Market Outlook, its annual analysis of long-term market dynamics, sees overall demand for around 43,610 over the next two decades, a figure that represents around $7.2 trillion in value but is down from its 2019 forecast of 44,040.
