Tag: fatal (Page 4 of 5)

United CEO Promises To Rebook 737 MAX Passengers

May 22, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz poses for pictures in his office at the company’s headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., November 14, 2018.
Picture taken November 14, 2018. REUTERS/Tracy Rucinski

CHICAGO (Reuters) – United Airlines Chief Executive Oscar Munoz promised on Wednesday to accommodate any passengers concerned about flying Boeing Co’s 737 MAX jets once regulators deem the aircraft safe to fly again.

United is the only one of the three U.S. MAX operators to make such an announcement so far. Southwest Airlines Co, the world’s largest MAX operator, said on Wednesday discussions were still ongoing.

American Airlines Group Inc said on Wednesday “customers can be assured that our pilots would never operate an unsafe aircraft,” echoing other carriers’ insistence that safety is paramount to putting the globally grounded jets back in the air.

Still, following two fatal crashes of the MAX model within months, an Ethiopian Airlines jet in March after a Lion Air jet in October, Munoz said he wants customers to feel as comfortable as possible.

“If people need any kind of adjustments we will absolutely rebook them,” Munoz told reporters after the airline’s annual shareholders’ meeting.

Munoz said it was too soon to discuss whether Boeing would pick up the tab. None of the shareholders at the meeting questioned the company’s MAX plans. United is in the midst of a growth plan that has fuelled a 17% share rise over the past year.

Global regulators are meeting with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday to discuss Boeing’s proposed software fix and training updates for the MAX, which has been grounded since mid-March.

The timing of regulatory approval is still unclear, and Munoz said that is only the first step, with independent analysis and public and employee confidence critical in the Chicago-based airline’s strategy for eventually flying the jets again.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week showed U.S. fliers still value ticket prices over aircraft models when choosing flights, suggesting the crashes have had little impact on consumer sentiment.

The No. 3 U.S. airline by passenger traffic, which trades under parent company United Continental Holdings Inc, operates 14 MAX jets and has dozens more on order.

United, American and Southwest together have cancelled thousands of flights during the busy U.S. summer travel season and warned of hits to profits from the grounded MAX, which many airlines had rushed to buy thanks to the narrowbody’s higher fuel-efficiency and longer range.

Still, Munoz said he was not concerned about the timetable for a return to service.

“We have to fly this aircraft for a long period of time, so a week, a month, whatever is not that important,” Munoz said.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Phil Berlowitz)

Ryanair Posts Weakest Annual Profit in 4 Years

May 20, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Reuters • May 19, 2019

Profit could fall further in coming year
Fares likely to fall further this summer
Says 737 Max delay a factor
Sees first Max deliveries in October (Adds quotes; details on Max 737 delays)

DUBLIN, May 20 (Reuters) – Ryanair reported its weakest annual profit in four years on Monday and said earnings could fall further as European airlines wage what Chief Executive Michael O’Leary described as “attritional fare wars.”

After initially falling 6%, the shares made up some ground after O’Leary, who helped to develop the no-frills airline model in Europe, argued that lower fares and profitability for a couple of years were a price worth paying to boost market share and hasten consolidation.

O’Leary said the lower fares and profit were cyclical and that four or five European airlines were likely to emerge as the winners in the sector.

“Our strategy would be to keep adding capacity as quickly as we can in all the markets where we can,” said O’Leary, who has been in charge of Ryanair since 1994.

“Will it be painful for a year or two, yes it will. But will it shake out more of the competition, yes it will.”

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost operator, had already signalled a sharp fall in profitability due largely to overcapacity in two warnings last year.

Its 29% fall in after-tax profits to 1.02 billion euros ($1.14 billion) for its financial year to March 31 was in line with investor forecasts.

But its profit forecast for the current financial year to end-March 2020 of between 750 million and 950 million euros, was “considerably worse than expected,” Goodbody analyst Mark Simpson said in a note.

A company poll of analysts published ahead of the release had forecast a figure of 977 million euros.

O’Leary said the forecast was effectively for profits to remain flat as the 2020 figure includes recently acquired and loss-making Laudamotion unit for the first time and would be a “very good outcome.” The equivalent figure in 2019 would have been 880 million.

737 MAX GROUNDING

Several rival airlines have warned of a worse trading environment – partly due to overcapacity and partly because European travellers are holding off booking their summer holidays for fear of how the Brexit process will pan out.

Alistair Wittet, portfolio manager at Comgest, which has a 0.74% stake in Ryanair according to Refinitiv Eikon, said some investors appeared to have been convinced by O’Leary’s line of argument.

“The long-term opportunity is fantastic for a company like Ryanair because that capacity will come out” even if Ryanair has to go through a lot more pain than expected in the meantime, Wittet said.

Ryanair has also been affected by delays in the delivery of the Boeing 737 MAX after its worldwide grounding in March following a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash.

The airline, which has ordered 135 737 MAX 200s and has options on 75 more, was expecting to receive its first five planes between April and June but said it now expects them to be flying by November. O’Leary said he was “reasonably confident” it would have around 50 MAX aircraft flying next summer.

The grounding has forced Ryanair to cut around 1 million seats in the year to March 2020. But it still expects to fly 153 million passengers in the period, up from 139 million last year.

The airline plans to have a conversation with Boeing about “modest compensation”, Chief Financial Officer Neil Sorohan said.

Ryanair’s shares were trading down 3 percent at 10.46 euros at 1250 GMT, down over 40% from a peak of 19.39 euros in August 2017, before the airline was hit by a wave of industrial unrest, fare weakness and the grounding of the MAX.

In what O’Leary described as a vote of confidence from the board, Ryanair will begin a 700 million euro share buyback in the coming days. ($1 = 0.8966 euros)

(Additional reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Louise Heavens)

Air Canada Reports Surprise Profit Despite MAX Grounding

May 6, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

May 6 (Reuters) – Air Canada on Monday reported a surprise quarterly profit that sent shares up 4 percent in morning trading, helped by flying more passengers and its purchase of a loyalty program, despite rising costs from the global grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets.

Canada’s largest carrier said it sees strong booking trends ahead of the busy summer season, and expects second quarter results in line with forecasts made before the March global suspension of the Boeing MAX in March following two fatal crashes involving the model.

Air Canada stock was up 4 percent, even as Canada’s main stock index fell at the open on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China, triggering a global rout in risky assets.

Air Canada Chief Executive Calin Rovinescu said the carrier, which operates 24 MAX jets, would return the planes to service based on its own safety assessment, in addition to regulators giving it the green light.

During the first three months of the year, Air Canada and other North American carriers that fly the MAX scrambled to replace flights following harsh weather and the plane’s grounding, while facing pressure from rising fuel costs.

“First quarter is always the most demanding for Canadian airlines,” Rovinescu said. “This year was an exception and it was made more so with the unexpected grounding of the 737 MAX.”

Air Canada canceled 1,600 mainline flights during the first three months of the year, a 40 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2018, Rovinescu told analysts.

The company was able to protect most of its flights from the date of the grounding through April 30 by entering into new leases, among other strategies, he said.

For the first quarter, the company reported a 9.4 percent rise in total operating revenue to C$4.45 billion ($3.30 billion), beating analysts’ estimate of C$4.39 billion.

In January, Air Canada closed a deal to acquire the Aeroplan loyalty program.

Aeroplan revenue and strong demand drove a nearly 5 percent increase in passenger yield, the company said, even as cost per available seat mile (CASM) — a measure of how much an airline spends to fly a passenger — climbed 3.8 percent.

Air Canada said traffic rose 4.2 percent while passenger revenue per available seat mile, a key revenue measure for airlines, increased 4.5 percent in the first quarter.

The Montreal-based company reported an adjusted net income of C$17 million, or 6 Canadian cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, compared to a loss of C$26 million, or 10 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts’ on average had expected a loss of 18 Canadian cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. ($1 = 1.3467 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Allison Lampert and Shanti S Nair ; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Bill Trott)

Boeing Supplier Spirit AeroSystems Suspends Outlook

May 1, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

(Reuters) – Boeing Co’s largest supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc reported strong first-quarter results on Wednesday, while following the planemaker in suspending its full-year outlook in the face of the global grounding of 737 MAX jets.

The crisis with Boeing’s most popular aircraft has thrown into doubt orders for a raft of parts makers who have been investing heavily to meet record-breaking demand from the world’s biggest planemaker over the past two years.

Spirit, which makes fuselage, structural engine components and wing parts for the MAX, did a deal with Boeing last month to stick to its current parts delivery schedules for now, and its profits in the first quarter were up 30 percent, according to Wednesday’s quarterly results.

Boeing however has announced cutbacks in its monthly production of MAX jets to 42 from 52 and while it says it is nearing certification for a software fix for the jet, airlines are assuming the planes will not be back in the air before August.

Spirit said with the uncertainty around MAX production it could not stand by its previous full-year outlook which had factored production for MAX jets rising to 57 units per month in June.

“As we now expect to remain at 52 aircraft per month for some period of time, (prior) guidance does not reflect our current outlook,” Spirit Chief Executive Officer Tom Gentile said, adding he was waiting for more clarity from Boeing on MAX’s return to service.

MAX’s other major supplier General Electric Co, which makes engines with Safran SA of France, on Tuesday stuck to its full-year forecasts, while highlighting risk due to MAX’s reduced production.

Another MAX supplier United Technologies Corp last month included an up to 10 cents per share impact in its full-year profit outlook from the groundings of the jet, assuming Boeing produced at 42 aircraft per month for the rest of the year.

Spirit, whose shares are down about 10 percent since the fatal crash of the Ethiopian Airlines’ jet on March 10, rose as much as 3.5 percent to $89.96 in morning trade.

“Given that (Spirit’s) shares have already notably sold off, we think much of this … has been discounted into the price,” Vertical Research Partners Krishna Sinha said.

The company said it has taken actions including deferring capital investments and pausing hiring and share repurchases to mitigate the financial impact of the MAX production change.

On an adjusted basis, Spirit earned $1.68 per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.64 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Total revenue rose 13.4 percent to $1.97 billion (£1.51 billion), beating estimates of $1.93 billion.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

Boeing Didn’t Intentionally Deactivate 737 MAX Safety Feature

April 29, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

April 29 (Reuters) – Boeing Co said on Monday it did not “intentionally or otherwise” deactivate a safety alert for its angle-of-attack sensors on its 737 MAX aircraft, responding to reports the planemaker failed to tell Southwest Airlines Co and the U.S aviation regulator that the safety feature was deactivated before recent crashes.

“The disagree alert was tied or linked into the angle of attack indicator, which is an optional feature on the MAX. Unless an airline opted for the angle of attack indicator, the disagree alert was not operable,” Boeing said in a statement.

It said the disagree alert is not necessary for the safe operation of the airplane.

The company said following software modifications all new MAX aircraft will have an activated and operable disagree alert and an optional angle of attack indicator, while current MAX airplanes will have the ability to activate the disagree alert.

Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg was grilled at a press conference earlier on Monday, following two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX plane.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

United Airlines First-Quarter Profit Rises

April 17, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: A United Express Embraer ERJ-175LR airplane is pictured at Vancouver’s international airport in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, February 5, 2019. REUTERS/Ben Nelms

(Reuters) – United Airlines on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected jump in first-quarter profit as it sold more tickets and cut costs, standing by its 2019 profit target even as its Boeing Co 737 MAX jets remain grounded.

Chicago-based United has removed its 14 MAX aircraft, which were suspended worldwide in March following two fatal crashes, from its flying schedule through early July, eating into U.S. airlines’ peak summer travel season.

Still, the airline’s parent United Continental Holdings Inc reiterated its estimate for adjusted earnings of $10 to $12 per share in 2019, and said its strategy for scheduling more flights out of its hubs was continuing to win customers.

Adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.15 in the first quarter, ending March 31, from 49 cents a year earlier, overcoming a U.S. government shutdown and severe winter weather earlier this year that curtailed flights.

Wall Street analysts on average had forecast 95 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Its shares rose 2.8 percent in after-hours trading.

United has largely avoided cancelling MAX flights by servicing those routes with larger aircraft, but President Scott Kirby warned last week that the strategy could not last indefinitely.

The airline, which has been adding seats at a faster pace than rivals, trimmed its 2019 capacity growth target to between 4 percent and 5 percent from 4 percent to 6 percent previously, but did not say whether the decision reflected the effect of the grounded MAX.

Total operating revenue rose 7.1 percent to $8.73 billion in the quarter, while closely watched revenue per available seat mile rose 1.1 percent.

In the second quarter, United said it expects unit revenue to rise between 0.5 percent and 2.5 percent while unit costs, which fell 1.8 percent in the first quarter, were expected to be flat to 1 percent higher.

The No. 3 U.S. carrier is the first of three U.S. 737 MAX operators to report first-quarter results. Southwest Airlines Co and American Airlines Group Inc, which have removed their MAX jets from schedules into August, report on April 25 and April 26 respectively.

A Federal Aviation Administration review board said on Tuesday that it found a Boeing software update for the MAX to be “operationally suitable,” suggesting the lengthy regulatory process to get the planes back in the air was underway.

Rival Delta Air Lines Inc, which does not operate the 737 MAX, lifted its 2019 revenue forecast last week after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Additional reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Rigby)

Trump Says Boeing Should ‘Rebrand’ Grounded 737 MAX Jet

April 15, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the debut of the Boeing South Carolina Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner in North Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., February 17, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday urged Boeing Co to fix and “rebrand” its 737 MAX jetliner following two fatal crashes, as regulators worldwide continue to work with the planemaker to review its grounded best-selling aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been meeting major airlines and convened a joint review with aviation regulators from other countries, while federal prosecutors, the U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general’s office and a blue-ribbon panel are reviewing the plane’s certification.

In an early-morning post on Twitter, Trump, who owned the Trump Shuttle airline from 1989 to 1992 and is an aviation enthusiast, weighed in with his own advice.

“What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?” Trump tweeted.

The plane’s grounding has also threatened the U.S. summer travel season, with some airlines removing the 737 from their schedules through August.

Trump issued the tweet as Boeing tries to restore trust in its fastest-selling jet, the main source of profits and cash at the Chicago-based planemaker which has won some 5,000 orders or around seven years of production for the aircraft.

Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg has apologised on behalf of Boeing for lives lost in two recent accidents and promised that it would address the risk that flight software meant to prevent the plane stalling could be activated by wrong data.

Boeing has also held dozens of briefings and simulator sessions for airline executives and pilots and held worldwide meetings with airline branding and communications staff.

Pilots are expected to play a major role in regaining public confidence in the aircraft, but Trump’s tweet marks the first time the brand underpinning Boeing profits in coming years has been thrown into question at a high level.

Brand Finance, a UK-based consultancy that tracks the value of global brands, rejected the idea that Boeing should abandon the MAX brand but said its corporate reputation was in the firing line.

“This has without a doubt damaged Boeing’s reputation and we foresee a dent to the (Boeing) brand’s value at over $12 billion (£9 billion),” Chief Executive David Haigh said by email when asked about Trump’s comments.

“This is a temporary blip in the long run for Boeing,” he said, adding Toyota and others had recovered from similar high-profile crises without a drastic rebranding exercise.

Brand Finance had previously estimated the damage to the value of Boeing’s reputation at $7.5 billion immediately after the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jetliner, the second fatal accident involving the 737 MAX in five months.

Boeing has the world’s most valuable aerospace brand, having seen the value of its overall corporate image rise by 61 percent to $32 billion in 2018, according to the same branding firm.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Tim Hepher; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Toby Chopra)

Virgin Atlantic Posts Annual Loss for Second Year Running

April 10, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

(Reuters) – Virgin Atlantic on Wednesday reported an annual pretax loss for the second consecutive year, hit by a shaky economy, the higher costs of fuel generated by a weaker British pound and problems with Rolls Royce’s Trent engines.

The airline, the 1980s brainchild of British billionaire Richard Branson, fell back into the red in 2017 after three years of profits, as competition intensified and the weakening of the pound added to already rising fuel costs.

Best known in Europe for the trans-Atlantic planes it flies with Air France-KLM and Delta, Virgin said its loss before tax and exceptional items was 26.1 million pounds ($34.12 million) for the year ended Dec. 31, compared to a loss of 49 million pounds in 2017.

Total revenue rose 5.8 percent to 2.78 billion pounds, as passenger numbers grew just under 5 percent to 5.4 million and revenue per customer rose 1.7 percent.

The company said performance had suffered from economic uncertainty and the weaker pound – which increases costs because fuel is priced in dollars – as well as the well-documented problems of the Trent 1000 engines used on its Boeing 787 jets.

“While a loss is disappointing, our performance has improved in 2018 despite challenging economic conditions and put us on a trajectory for growth and return to profitability,” Chief Executive Officer Shai Weiss said in a statement.

Rolls-Royce on Wednesday agreed to an early inspection of some Trent 1000 TEN engines by regulatory authorities, a week after Singapore Airlines grounded two Boeing 787-10 jets fitted with the units.

British Airways owner IAG in February chose Boeing 777-9s, rather than a competing package from Airbus in part powered by Rolls, underlining the risks to airlines from the engine issues.

Since then the industry has been thrown into chaos by the grounding of Boeing’s new 737 MAX planes after a second fatal crash within six months.

The pound fell 5.6 percent against the U.S. dollar, in 2018 as Britain contended with the political and economic uncertainty generated by its negotiations on leaving the European Union.

Finance chief Tom Mackay said that while economic factors would continue to challenge the carrier in the year ahead, Virgin Atlantic was in a strong cash position.

The results are the company’s first since its acquisition of troubled regional airline Flybe for $2.8 million earlier this year, in a joint bid with Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital.

($1 = 0.7649 pounds)

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

Five Decades Ago, Boeing’s 727 Jet Also Had A Terrible Start

March 25, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

OTTAWA (Reuters) – As Boeing Co and global airlines work to restore public confidence in the 737 MAX after two deadly crashes, they will have a play book they can use.

This is not the first time that Boeing has faced a crisis after launching a new plane with innovative technology. In 1965, three Boeing 727-100 passenger jets crashed in less than three months in the United States while coming into land, killing a total of 131 people.

Like the 737 MAX, the three-engined 727 was billed as one of the most advanced aircraft of its time. Boeing introduced the 727 in 1964 and portrayed it as a more efficient alternative to the standard four-engine jets of the day, with new features designed to make the 727 easier to operate from short airfields.

The 727’s wing flap system, which provides extra lift at low speeds, was unusually large and sophisticated, which allowed the plane to descend more quickly than other rivals and avoid buildings and other obstacles close to runways.

Investigators looking into the crashes discovered that some pilots did not fully understand the flap system and were therefore allowing the planes to descend at too great a speed.

“There was nothing wrong with the airplane… (but) if you didn’t really pay a lot of attention to it you could build up an immense sink rate,” said Bill Waldock, a professor of safety science at the U.S-based Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He uses the 727 accidents as part of a case study.

Aviation authorities ordered more training for pilots but allowed the planes to keep flying despite calls from some politicians to ground them.

Boeing made some modifications to the flight manual and to the procedures for flying the airplane on final approach.

In the case of the 737 MAX 8, Boeing is working on software and training updates. [L3N21C0FP]

Alan Hoffman, a U.S. aviation historian and retired transportation lawyer who has researched the 727 accidents, said given the publicity over the recent crashes, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration would only allow the 737 MAX 8 planes to fly again if the regulator is convinced the fixes worked.

“The airplane will go back into service and unless something else crops up there will be no further problems and a year from now this will all be a dim distant memory,” he predicted by phone from St Louis, Missouri.

Boeing was not immediately available for comment.

In contrast to the swift grounding of the 737 MAX 8 after the recent second accident, just two days after the third fatal 727 crash, in November 1965, the Civil Aeronautics Board said there was no reason to ground the plane.

“It passed very rigid certification tests … before it was put into service and nothing has turned up in our investigation to cause us to doubt its stability,” the board said.

Those words did not immediately reassure many travellers. Indeed, passengers had started to boycott the airliner after the crashes began.

“For a period of six months or so a lot of 727s were flying with half full cabins,” Waldock said by phone from Prescott, Arizona. Still, the 727 crisis passed.

The plane eventually became one of Boeing’s best sellers and was in widespread use for another 30 years. By 2003, virtually all had been retired as airlines moved away from the 727’s loud and thirsty engines.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Joe White and Cynthia Osterman)

Garuda Indonesia Plans to Cancel Boeing 737 MAX 8 Order

March 22, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

JAKARTA/OSLO (Reuters) – Indonesian airline Garuda plans to cancel a $6 billion order for Boeing 737 MAX jets, it said on Friday, saying some passengers would be frightened to board the plane after two fatal crashes, although analysts said the deal had long been in doubt.

The news came as another 737 MAX customer, Norwegian Air, played down the significance of a move by Boeing to make a previously optional cockpit warning light compulsory.

Norwegian said that, according to Boeing, the warning light would not have been able to prevent erroneous signals that Lion Air pilots received before their new 737 MAX plane crashed off Indonesia in October, killing 189 people.

Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda is the first airline to publicly announce plans to scrap an order since the world’s entire fleet of 737 MAX planes was grounded last week, following an Ethiopian Airlines crash that left 157 people dead.

“Many passengers told us they were afraid to get on a MAX 8,” Garuda CEO Ari Askhara told Reuters on Friday.

However, the airline had been reconsidering its order for 49 of the narrowbody jets prior to the Ethiopian crash, including potentially swapping some for widebody Boeing models.

Southeast Asia faces a glut of narrowbody aircraft like the 737 MAX and rival Airbus A320neo at a time of slowing global economic growth and high fuel costs.

“They have been re-looking at their fleet plan anyway so this is an opportunity to make some changes that otherwise may be difficult to do,” CAPA Centre for Aviation Chief Analyst Brendan Sobie said.

Indonesia’s Lion Air has also said it might cancel 737 MAX aircraft, though industry sources say it is also struggling to absorb the number of planes on order.

Both crashes are still being investigated. But regulators have noted some similarities between the two, and attention has focused on whether pilots had the correct information about the “angle of attack” at which the wing slices through the air.

No direct link has been proven between the accidents.

RETROFITS

Boeing now plans to make compulsory a light to alert pilots when sensor readings of the angle of attack do not match – meaning at least one must be wrong -, according to two officials briefed on the matter.

Investigators suspect a faulty angle-of-attack reading led the doomed Lion Air jet’s computer to believe it had stalled, prompting the plane’s anti-stall system, called MCAS, repeatedly to push the plane’s nose down.

The Lion Air plane did not have the warning light installed because it was not compulsory. Ethiopian Airlines did not immediately comment on whether its crashed plane had the alert.

But the Ethiopian carrier, whose reputation along with Boeing’s is at stake, issued a statement on Friday emphasising the modernity of its safety and training systems, with more than $500 million invested in infrastructure in the past five years.

The Ethiopian crash has set off one of the widest inquiries in aviation history and cast a shadow over the Boeing 737 MAX model intended to be a standard for decades.

Boeing did not comment on the plan to make the safety feature standard, but separately said it was moving quickly to make software changes and expected the upgrade to be approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in coming weeks.

Chicago-based Boeing will also retrofit older planes with the cockpit warning light, the officials told Reuters.

Experts said it could take weeks or months to be done, and for regulators to review and approve the changes. Regulators in Europe and Canada have said they will conduct their own reviews of any new systems.

Norwegian said its 18 737 MAX jets did not have the cockpit warning light, but it would follow any recommendations made by Boeing and aviation regulations. The airline said last week it would seek compensation from Boeing for the cost of grounding its 737 MAX planes, which makes up 11 percent of its fleet.

Since the Ethiopian crash, Boeing shares have fallen 12 percent and $28 billion has been wiped off its market value.

Pressure has mounted on the company from U.S. legislators, who are also expected to question the FAA. The company faces a criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department as well.

Several lawsuits have already been filed on behalf of victims of the Lion Air crash referring to the Ethiopian accident. Boeing declined to comment on the lawsuits.

( By Cindy Silviana and Terje Solsvik, Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in Singapore, Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta, Maggie Fick and Jason Neely in Addis Ababa, Tim Hepher in Paris, and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh, Georgina Prodhan and Ben Klayman; Editing by Mark Potter)

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