Boeing Shares Drop as World Reacts to Deadly Ethiopia Airlines Crash

Shares of Boeing were down almost 10% on Monday after one of its best selling plans was involved in its second deadly crash in less than five months.

The Boeing 737 Max jet belonged to Ethiopian Airlines. Flight ET302 crashed on Sunday and killed all 157 people on board.

Airlines in Ethiopia, China, Indonesia and elsewhere grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliner after the crash.

According to Boeing however, there was no reason to pull the airplane.

Aviation safety analyst who directs the Airsafe.com Foundation, Todd Curtis, said, “It’s unusual for authorities to take the step of grounding planes, and it’s up to each country to set standards on which planes can fly and how those planes are maintained.”

“Before falling down, the plane rotated two times in the air, and it had some smoke coming from the back then, it hit the ground and exploded,” witness Tamrat Abera remarked. “When the villagers and I arrived at the site, there was nothing except some burning and flesh.”

It was last year that the same model went down, a Lion Air jet, in the Indonesian seas. That crash killed 189 people.

Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said passenger safety was the first priority for the administration and said, “I want travelers to be assured and that we are taking this seriously and monitoring latest developments.”

According to aerospace and defense analyst at Jefferies, Sheila Kahyauglu, “The big focus [is], obviously, it’s a tragic accident, but it’s also [that] Boeing’s commercial aircraft business is about 60 percent of sales. The 737 is about 25 percent of total company sales, and it is a big part of the free cash flow driver, so that’s why there’s such a focus. And [CEO] Dennis [Muilenburg], in December, but also in January when they put out guidance … reaffirmed their position with the 737 going up in production from 52 a month to 57 a month.”

Disclaimer: We have no position Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and have not been compensated for this article.