Boeing is reportedly on the brink of stopping 737 Max production while it waits for the troubled plane to return to the sky

• Boeing is reportedly considering whether to cut down or halt production of the 737 Max aircraft following the Federal Aviation Administration's decision not to approve the plane for use by the end of the year, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.
• The decision could be announced by Boeing as soon as Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited sources familiar with the matter.
• The 737 Max has been grounded since March following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia which killed a total of 346 people.
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Boeing is reportedly considering either halting or cutting down production of the grounded 737 Max aircraft after it failed to get approval last week for the plane's return to service from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before the end of the year.

The 737 Max aircraft has been grounded since March following fatal crashes in Indonesia last October and Ethiopia in March, which killed a total of 346 people.

The decision could be announced by Boeing as soon as Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited sources familiar with the matter.

According to these sources, Boeing management think pausing production of the aircraft to be "the most viable among difficult options" following the FAA's announcement on Thursday that the aircraft would not be allowed to return to service by the start of 2020.

The Seattle Times reported on Sunday that Boeing will stop the production of the 737 Max "this week or next" and is not expected to resume again until mid-February or early March when the FAA is expected to approve the plane for commercial use.

American Airlines also announced on Thursday it would be cancelling Boeing 737 Max flights until April 7 next year at the earliest.

In a statement on Sunday, Boeing said they will "continue to assess production decisions based on the timing and conditions of return to service, which will be based on regulatory approvals and may vary by jurisdiction," according to Reuters.

Earlier this year Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg warned of the possibility of "unexpected delays or issues" and said that Boeing would consider reducing or suspending production of the 737 Max aircraft if it remained grounded past the projected timeline, David Slotnick reported for Business Insider back in July.

• Read more:
• Boeing says it could suspend 737 Max production if grounding continues, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk
• American Airlines just cancelled Boeing 737 Max flights until April, as Boeing's timeline for the jet's return is thrown into further doubt
• The 737 Max will not be cleared to fly again in 2019. Here's the complete history of the plane that's been grounded since 2 crashes killed 346 people 5 months apart.
• The FAA calculated that Boeing's 737 Max could crash a total of 15 times, killing more than 3,000 people, if it wasn't grounded and fixed