These airlines will likely take the biggest hit after the Boeing 737 Max was involved in two deadly crashes (BA)

Boeing

• On Sunday, Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.
• The incident, which killed all 157 on board, marked the second crash of a nearly brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 in recent months. Lion Air Flight JT610 crashed in October. 
• Here are the US airlines with the greatest exposure to the Boeing 737 Max according to Raymond James analyst Savi Syth. 

The Boeing 737 Max is a big deal. It’s the fastest selling airliner in Boeing history and is expected to carry the highly successful 737 program into the next decade. 

On Sunday, Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. The incident, which killed all 157 on board, marked the second crash of a nearly brand new 737 Max 8 in recent months. Lion Air Flight JT610 crashed in October. 

Boeing’s announcement, on Tuesday, that it will roll out updated control software for plane over the next few weeks, has not prevented regulators from grounding the plane.

On Tuesday, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has banned all Boeing 737 Max airliners from flying in Europe. EASA joins national regulators across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia in grounding the jet. 

Read more: These 12 airlines have the most Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in their fleet.

However, Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and its US operators have reaffirmed their confidence in the 737 Max. 

In the US, the 737 Max is operated by American, Southwest, and United Airlines. In a note published on Monday, Raymond James analyst Savi Syth outlined the exposure of each operator to the 737 Max.

Southwest Airlines is the world’s largest operator of the Boeing 737. So it comes as no surprise that it’s also the largest operator of the 737 Max 8 with 34 planes. According to Syth, that represents 5% of the airline’s total seat count between March and June of 2019. 

According to Raymond James note, 2% of American’s seat inventory between now and June is on board its 24 Boeing 737 Max 8 airliners. Unlike the others, United Airlines does not fly the 737 Max 8 variant that was involved in the two crashes. Instead, the Chicago-based airline operates 14 of the larger Max 9 model. Syth’s note indicates only 1% of United’s seat exposure in March will be on the Max 9. That figure increases to 2% in April, May, and June. 

Boeing is still working to ramp up the production rate of the Boeing 737 Max which entered service in 2017. As a result, no US airline is greatly exposed to the troubles of the 737 Max program. Even for Southwest, its 34 Max jets are but a small part of its 750-jet fleet. American is the largest airline in the world with roughly 1,000 planes in its inventory. 

More about the Boeing 737 MAX 8 and the Ethiopian Airlines disaster:

• Everything we know about Ethiopian Airlines’ deadly crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8, the second disaster involving the plane in 5 monthsSeven airlines and 5 countries have grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 after a 2nd crash involving the plane killed 157 people — here’s who’s taken action so far
• Europe has banned the Boeing 737 MAX — a plane that has crashed twice since October
• Boeing has $400 billion in orders on the books, 80% of them are for the 737
• ‘I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot’: Trump says airplanes are becoming ‘too complex to fly’ as the UK, China, and other nations ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 –
• A major flight-attendants union is calling on US regulators to investigate the plane involved in 2 crashes in 5 months 
• These are the victims of the Boeing 737 Max 8 crash in Ethiopia
• Germany, the UK, China, and other countries have grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 after its 2 deadly crashes — here’s who’s taken action so far 
• FAA says Boeing 737 Max 8, the plane that’s crashed twice in 5 months, is still safe to fly
• Southwest has the largest exposure of all US airlines to Boeing’s 737 Max
• Elected officials are calling on the US government to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 after the plane was involved in 2 deadly crashes
• The black box from the crashed Ethiopian Airlines flight has been found
• ‘If it’s Boeing, I’m not going’: People are freaking out about flying on the same plane that has now crashed twice in 5 months
• The family of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 captain speaks out after crash that killed 157 people
• A Georgetown University law student who reportedly expressed a fear of flying is among the 157 dead in the Ethiopian Airlines crash
• An Ethiopian Airlines passenger said he missed the crashed flight by 2 minutes: ‘I’m grateful to be alive’
• People of 35 different nationalities were killed in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, including 8 Americans

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See Also:

• Europe has banned the Boeing 737 MAX — a plane that has crashed twice since October
• Boeing is going to update the control software on the 737 Max that may cause the plane to nosedive
• Boeing has $400 billion in orders on the books, 80% of them are for the 737

SEE ALSO: Boeing is going to update the control software on the 737 MAX that may cause the plane to nose dive

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Source: Business Insider – bzhang@businessinsider.com (Benjamin Zhang)