Boeing plans to temporarily suspend production of its troubled 737 Max aircraft, the US plane maker said on Monday.
Production of the US plane maker’s biggest-selling aircraft had continued despite the model being grounded since March, after two deadly accidents.
It has been the longest worldwide grounding of any jet and has cost Boeing more than $9.2 billion (Dh33.79bn).
The narrow-body plane has been the subject of intense scrutiny after 346 people died in the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Boeing had hoped the aircraft would be flying again by the end of this year but regulators and industry bodies have been sceptical and said it will not be possible to get the aircraft back into commercial service that quickly.
The US Federal Aviation Administration and global regulatory authorities determine the timeline for the aircraft's certification and return.
The aircraft's control computer system – the MCAS – has proven to be one of the main bug for Boeing, with fixes to the system being much more complex than anticipated.
Many airlines do not expect the aircraft to start operating until at least March next year.
The plane maker, based in Seattle, said on Monday that returning the aircraft safely back into service was its top priority.
It said the decision to freeze production was "least disruptive to maintaining long-term production system and supply-chain health", despite having large repercussions across its supply chain.
Boeing said during the production freeze, its affected employees would continue 737-related work or be temporarily assigned to other teams.
The company said it would keep its customers, employees and supply chain “top of mind” as it continues to assess the future of the aircraft.
“This decision is driven by a number of factors, including the extension of certification into 2020, the uncertainty about the timing and conditions of return to service and global training approvals, and the importance of ensuring that we can prioritise the delivery of stored jets,” Boeing said.
It has 400 Maxs in storage and said would prioritise deliveries while production is suspended. "We will continue to assess our progress towards return to service milestones and make determinations about resuming production and deliveries accordingly," Boeing said.
“We know that the process of approving the 737 Max’s return to service, and of determining appropriate training requirements, must be extraordinarily thorough and robust to ensure that our regulators, customers and the flying public have confidence in the 737 Max updates.”
Boeiing will provide financial information on the suspension in connection with its fourth quarter earnings release, set for late January.