Boeing 737 MAX groundings due to safety concerns, after two new airplanes crashed within five months
The 20-month worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX following 346 deaths exposed systemic failures in aircraft certification and cost Boeing over $20 billion.
Key Facts
- Total deaths in two crashes
- 346 people
- Aircraft grounded
- 387 aircraft
- Grounding duration
- 20 months (March 2019 – November 2020)
- Direct cost to Boeing
- ~20 billion USD
- Cancelled orders (indirect losses)
- 1,200 orders, over $60 billion in indirect losses
- 2024 re-grounding (MAX 9)
- 171 aircraft grounded for inspections after Alaska Airlines blowout
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
Boeing's 737 MAX incorporated a new Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) that could force the aircraft into automated nosedives based on faulty sensor data. The FAA had approved removing MCAS references from pilot manuals in 2016, limiting crew awareness. After Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in October 2018 and killed 189 people, Boeing issued corrective guidance without disclosing MCAS, leaving pilots uninformed of the system's existence.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed on March 10, 2019, killing all 157 aboard—the second MCAS-linked disaster in five months. Within days, 51 regulators grounded the aircraft; the FAA followed on March 13, grounding all 387 delivered MAX aircraft by March 18. Investigations by the U.S. Congress, FBI, NTSB, and other agencies uncovered additional design flaws in flight computers and cockpit displays beyond MCAS, and revealed Boeing had exerted undue pressure on its own designated inspectors.
The FAA lifted the grounding on November 18, 2020, after mandating hardware fixes and enhanced pilot training. Boeing faced an estimated $20 billion in direct costs and over $60 billion in indirect losses from 1,200 cancelled orders. In 2024, a separate in-flight blowout on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 triggered a further partial grounding, and Boeing ultimately pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the original fatal accidents.