Boeing is temporarily cutting production of its best-selling 737 airliner in the continuing fall-out from crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
Boeing 737 Max aircraft are grounded worldwide. Photo: AFP
Production will drop from 52 planes a month to 42 from mid-April, Boeing has said in a statement. The decision is a response to a halt in deliveries of the 737 Max - the model involved in the two accidents.
The plane is currently grounded worldwide as preliminary findings suggest its anti-stall system was at fault.
An Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crashed only minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa in March, killing all 157 people on board.
The same type flown by the Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed into the sea only five months earlier, shortly after taking off from Jakarta. That accident claimed the lives of 189 people.
In both cases, preliminary findings showed the pilots had wrestled with the anti-stall system, known as MCAS, which caused the planes to nose-dive repeatedly.
A report from the Ethiopian authorities issued on Thursday said the pilots of flight ET302 "repeatedly" followed procedures recommended by Boeing before the crash.
Boeing 'making progress' on software
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg Photo: AFP
"We now know that the recent Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accidents were caused by a chain of events, with a common chain link being erroneous activation of the aircraft's MCAS function.
"We have the responsibility to eliminate this risk, and we know how to do it," the statement from chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg said.
He repeated that Boeing was making progress on updating the MCAS software and finalising new training for Max pilots.
"As we continue to work through these steps, we're adjusting the 737 production system temporarily to accommodate the pause in Max deliveries, allowing us to prioritise additional resources to focus on software certification and returning the Max to flight," he said.
Current employment levels would be maintained, the statement said, and a new committee is being set up to look at "policies and processes for the design and development of the airplanes we build".
Chief pilot's father rejects Boeing's apology
Boeing apologised on Thursday saying it was "sorry for the lives lost" in both accidents. But this has failed to satisfy many relatives who questioned why Boeing did not act earlier to take the planes out of service.
The chief pilot's father, Dr Getachew Tessema, told the BBC the apology was "too little, too late".
Yared Getachew, 29, had more than 8000 hours of flying experience when he was killed.
"I am very proud about my son and the other pilot, both of them," he said. "To the last minute they struggled as much as they could but unfortunately they were not able to stop it.
"I don't regret that he was a pilot. He died in the course of his duty."
Yared Getachew's brother, second right, and uncle, left, are comforted after prayers at a mosque in Mombassa, Kenya after the Ethiopia Airlines crash. Photo: AFP
Dr Tessema levels the blame squarely at Boeing, questioning why the company did not stop the 737 Max flying after the Indonesia crash.
"Why did they let them fly? Because they were in competition. They want to sell more. Human life has no meaning in some societies."
Relatives of an American passenger who died in the Ethiopian crash, 24-year-old Samya Stumo, filed the first lawsuit against Boeing on Thursday in Chicago.
- BBC