NEW YORK (AP) – United Airlines says the Boeing 737 Max has been pulled from its flight schedule until June, the latest in a string of troubling news plaguing the airplane manufacturer.
The developments follow Boeing’s announcement Monday that it would halt Max production in January as it became increasingly clear that it still has many regulatory hurdles to clear. It did not say when production would resume.
Also on Friday, Spirit AeroSystems, which builds fuselages for Boeing, said it will end deliveries intended for the Max as damage from the troubled plane begins to ripple outward to suppliers. Adding to the woes, Boeing’s new Starliner capsule went off course Friday during its first test flight. It was supposed to go to the International Space Station, but will not land there as planned.
Boeing and Spirit have the financial resources to manage through delays to the Max return, but smaller suppliers to both companies – who are attempting to hold onto skilled workers in a tight labor market – may not, said Richard Aboulafia, an aircraft industry analyst at the Teal Group. If companies along the supply chain lose workers, it could slow progress when production eventually resumes.
“If they’re not building, how do they get paid? And if they don’t get paid, how do they pay their workers? How do they remain in place?” Aboulafia asked. “It’s this trickle-down effect that’s most concerning, and the biggest question is, you just don’t know how deep that goes.”