Since, 11 March 2019 there has been a crisis in the aviation industry. Many airlines throughout the world have grounded the most demanding aircraft type of the decade Boeing 737 MAX 8. This aircraft type is the most demanding because of its low manufacturing cost, fuel efficiency and better engine functioning. Boeing 737 MAX 8 is one of the newest aircraft which was first operated by Malindo Air on May 22, 2017 and can accommodate up to 190 passengers. It’s a narrow body aircraft but is also used on international routes. But why an aircraft which such great characteristics is being grounded?

Heart of the matter?

On 10 March 2019, the Ethiopian airlines flight 302 (ET302) from Bole International airport in Adis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia to Jomo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi the capital city of Kenya crashed 6 minutes after take off from Bole International airport in a town named Bishoftu. This catastrophic accident killed 157 people in total of 35 different nationalities with the native Ethiopians accounting the largest number of victims along with victims from Canada, China, Italy, India and also many other countries.

This was the Boeing 737 MAX8s second hull loss within 6 months which altogether killed more than 300 people. The first accident occurred on October 28 2018 on which a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX8 crashed in Java sea after 10 minutes of takeoff from Sokerno Hatta Airport in Jakarta Indonesia. The cause of both the accidents are still under investigation and Boeing is investigating the accident. According to reports the design of the aircraft is said to be the cause of the accidents.

Since then the grounding rate of 737 MAX8 is rapidly increasing. All the airlines in China are the first one to ground the 737 MAX8 followed by Fiji air and Caribbean air. Now all 371 operations of 737 MAX8s have been suspended.

Because of the grounding, the airline fare have gone up and many airlines have canceled or temporarily suspended operations of the aircraft. The worst affected airline is South West Airlines which is an airline from the US. In India, Spice Jet is most affected. Spice jet has 13 737 MAX8s in their fleet and they have ordered more than 150. Their delivery is scheduled to start in mid 2019.

It is reported that officials from Boeing are in touch with all the airlines operating the 737 MAX8 and they have told the airlines to suspend the operations till further notice. According to other sources, it is reported that software is being updated on the 737 MAX8.

Following the incident the shares of Boeing aircraft company dropped by 11% till 14 March. This is profitable for their main rivals as many airlines are thinking to cancel the order of Boeing 737 MAX8 and instead make the order of the new Airbus A321 neo which is also one of the most demanding aircraft, but they could not do so otherwise they will have to pay the compensation.

The CEO of Boeing Aircraft company Dennis Muillenburg gave a statement on the issue and said the company will soon fix the problem and soon the 737 MAX8will be in air.
For Boeing, this is the biggest setback for the US-based aircraft manufacturer in its entire history. The overwhelming dependence on this single-aisle aircraft-4,636 737 MAX out of the total backlog of 5,826 aircraft-can seriously jeopardise its financials, and the company is under immense pressure to fix the problems that seems to be three-fold.