Boeing reported a net loss of £285m ($355m) in the first quarter amid a critical crisis sparked by a mid-air blowout of one of its planes in January. The US plane maker said production on its 737 programme has slowed to below 38 aircraft per month,  as revenue dipped to eight per cent to £13.3bn ($16.6bn). Boeing which has head office in Arlington, Virginia, had faced huge backlash after part of the fuselage on an Alaska Airlines 737-9 aircraft fell off mid-air earlier in the year, triggering an emergency landing. Boeing is under investigation by the US Department of Justice and several top-level C-suites including CEO Dave Calhoun and commercial aeroplanes’ head Stan Deal, are stepping down. 

Boeing said its revenue from the airlines’ commercial airplanes segment fell by a quarter to £3.78bn ( $4.7bn), reflecting lower deliveries and compensation to customers for 737-9 groundings. Shares are down over 30 per cent in the year to date while Airbus’s have risen over 15. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US aviation regulator, has given Boeing until the end of May 2024, to come up with a plan to resolve its issues.

Several whilstleblowers have emerged raising safety concerns on its production line, including cost cutting over safety. Sam Sakehpour, an engineer at the planemaker, told a hearing on Capitol Hill last week that hundreds of people could lose their lives if Boeing fails to address the critical safety issues.