Boeing suffered $2.9bn loss

Boeing has suffered its biggest quarterly loss as the prolonged grounding of its best selling 737 MAX jet took its toll.

Boeing cut production of the 737 Max from 52 to 42 a month in April after its worldwide grounding in March following two crashes that killed 346 people.

Dennis Muilenburg CEO said that while the company planned to boost its production  rate gradually to 57 a month next year, any slippage could affect those plans. “ Should our estimate of the anticipated return to service change, we might need to consider possible further rate reductions or other options including a temporary shutdown of the Max production”.

His comments came in the wake of a reported net loss of $2.94bn for the second quarter after announcing last week it would book an after-tax charge of $4.9bn in the period to compensate airlines that have been affected by the grounding of the 737 Max.