Boeing has posted its first annual loss since 1997 as the financial fallout from two deadly crashes of the 737 Max has mushroomed to more than 18 billion dollars (£13.84 billion). The icon of US manufacturing lost 636 million dollars (£489 million) for all of 2019. The company took a pre-tax charge of 2.6 billion dollars (£2 billion) to cover more concessions to airlines that have cancelled thousands of flights without their Max jets. Including higher estimated production costs in the years ahead, Boeing recalculated its extra expenses for the Max at 18.6 billion dollars (£14.3 billion). The Max was grounded last March after two crashes five months apart killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

Source: Irish Examiner January 29, 2020 12:56 UTC