The crash of an Air India 787-8 Dreamliner jet minutes after taking off on Thursday poses a major setback for Boeing, whose new CEO has been trying to rebuild trust following a series of safety and production challenges.
The disaster, in which most of the 242 people on board were killed, tarnishes the jet’s safety record heading into the Paris air show next week and muddles the efforts of CEO Kelly Ortberg to boost production after the planemaker hit the targets in May.
Shares closed down nearly 5% at $203.75 after falling as much as 8% before the opening bell.
In a statement, Ortberg said a Boeing team was ready to support the investigation.
The London-bound plane crashed in India’s western city of Ahmedabad, authorities said, in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade. It was not clear what caused the crash.
Before the crash, airline bosses had been voicing greater confidence in Boeing’s rebound in deliveries and in Ortberg’s leadership after years of reputational damage for the planemaker.
At a recent summit in New Delhi, executives were more optimistic about Boeing’s crises around safety and regulation.
The widebody 787 planes, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service, have never had a fatal crash until the Air India incident. They were grounded in 2013 due to battery issues, but no one was reported injured.
However, Boeing’s narrowbody 737 MAX jets were grounded for years following two fatal crashes and have faced years of scrutiny and production delays.
Last year, the US planemaker came under renewed scrutiny after a door plug blew off a 737 MAX 9 mid-flight, prompting a temporary FAA grounding and fresh concerns over quality control.
Read more on the Air India plane crash
Shares of Spirit AeroSystems, a key supplier, and GE Aerospace, which makes engines for the jet, also fell about 2% each.
GE Aerospace said in a post on X that it had activated its emergency response team and would support the investigation, but did not specify if the Air India aircraft was equipped with its engines.
The engine maker did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
“It’s a knee-jerk reaction (to the incident) and there’s revised fears of the problems that plagued Boeing aircraft and Boeing itself in recent years,” said Chris Beauchamp, analyst at IG Group.
Boeing’s outstanding debt also sold off modestly after the crash. Its bonds maturing in May 2029 were trading at 88 basis points over Treasuries, or 10 basis points wider than on Wednesday, according to a bond broker.
