After a series of high-profile incidents involving its planes, Boeing's stocks have dropped by 1.64 percent between Tuesday and Wednesday, as the company announced it's pausing production and delivery operations of its 737 aircraft for a day on Thursday.
The company was down by 17.34 percent year-to-date as of January 24 and by 19.58 percent in the past month alone, according to Google Finance data.
The latest drop in Boeing's stocks followed the company's announcement on Tuesday that it will hold a "quality stand down" on Thursday, January 25 at the Seattle-area location where it produces the aircraft.
"The first of the stand downs will be held Thursday for the 737 program," Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Stan Deal said in a statement shared on the company's website. "Production, delivery and support efforts will pause for a day so teammates can take part in working sessions focused on quality."
According to Deal, during the quality stand down all employees who touch the airplane will "pause, evaluate what we're doing, how we're doing it and make recommendations for improvement," as reported by Reuters.
In response to a request for comment by Newsweek, Boeing shared the following statement from Deal: "We have let down our airline customers and are deeply sorry for the significant disruption to them, their employees and their passengers. We are taking action on a comprehensive plan to bring these airplanes safely back to service and to improve our quality and delivery performance. We will follow the lead of the FAA and support our customers every step of the way."
The first stand down will be at a location in Renton, Washington, while all other Boeing commercial production facilities and fabrication sites will have theirs over the next few weeks.
"During the stand downs, teammates will participate in hands-on learning, reflection and collaboration to identify where quality and compliance can be improved and create actionable plans that will be tracked to closure," Deal said.
The quality stand downs, according to the Boeing president, are part of the actions the company has taken to ensure the safety of its aircraft after the dramatic accident involving the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. On January 5, the flight to Ontario, California, was forced to make an emergency in Portland, Oregon, after a cabin panel was ripped off the aircraft and blown off in the air.
While nobody on board was injured, the incident forced the temporary grounding of the airline's fleet of 65 737-9 MAX and put Boeing under pressure to investigate the issue. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) responded to the incident by grounding all Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory.
The agency also launched an audit of the company's aircraft production, dispatching a "couple of dozen" inspectors to Boeing's production lines, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told CNBC on Tuesday.
In a message to employees on January 15, Deal said the company has been working to bolster quality assurance by making more quality inspections and airlines oversight inspections, among other initiatives. The company also named an independent advisor to lead the comprehensive quality review.
Update 1/24/24, 9:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a comment from Boeing.
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