Boeing lost $1 billion after grounding 737 Max planes

Boeing executives announced Wednesday that their revenues slid more than $1 billion this quarter after more than 50 countries around the world grounded the company’s 737 Max planes following two deadly crashes.

Revenue for the first quarter of 2019 fell 2 percent overall following last month’s decision to ground the planes, Boeing told The New York Times, with revenue from commercial airlines down more than $1 billion. Production costs for the 737 Max line increased by about the same amount, according to the Times.

{mosads}The revenue loss constituted a 9 percent drop in the company’s earnings from commercial airline sales, according to the Times, which reported that Boeing earned $11.8 billion in total this quarter from such sales.

“Across the company, we are focused on safety, returning the 737 Max to service and earning and re-earning the trust and confidence of customers, regulators and the flying public,” said CEO Dennis Muilenburg, according to the Times.

The company added Wednesday that it was making “steady progress on the path to final certification” for an update that would address issues with the plane’s stabilization system that has been blamed for the crashes, including one earlier this year in Ethiopia that killed 157 people.

Boeing began offering training to some pilots on the plane’s new stabilization system last month, telling The Hill that it had invited “more than 200 airline pilots, technical leaders and regulators for an informational session” on software changes to the 737 Max planes.

The Federal Aviation Administration and other global flight authorities must approve the updates to Boeing’s systems before allowing the 737 Max to be used for commercial flights.