Boeing, the American planemaker, has announced the resumption of production of the 737 Max aircraft, albeit at a low rate.
In December last year, the aviation giant announced plans to halt the production of the 737 Max as from January 2020. This was after two of its 737 Max planes crashed in March last year, killing everyone on board. This was then followed by a worldwide grounding of the craft, with no airline yet to lift the ban.
Before the crashes, Boeing was building 52 737 MAX a month.
At the end of last year, the planemaker lost its top spot in plane deliveries to its nemesis Airbus, managing only 345 deliveries against Airbus’ 863.
Read Also: Airbus Claims Top Spot in Plane Deliveries for 2019
According to Reuters, analysts estimate that the planemaker has been losing around $1 billion every month because of the grounding, with estimated costs of the 737 MAX grounding at more than $9 billion as of January 2020.
The company’s share price took a dip since the jet crashes, dropping from trading above $400 in March of 2019 to around $95 on 20th March 2020.
The company says that since the halt in production, it has fixed all the technical problems with the plane, and mechanics and engineers have been working to “refine and standardize work packages in each position of the factory.”
However, the company has not revealed when the Max could return to service, seeing that the Federal Aviation Administration has not yet scheduled a certification flight, a necessary step before it can carry passengers again.
The resumption in production comes a day after the planemaker announced close to 12,000 job cuts amid the coronavirus pandemic that has caused a dip in the aviation industry revenues.
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