These airlines will likely take the biggest hit after the Boeing 737 Max was involved in two deadly crashes

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These airlines will likely take the biggest hit after the Boeing 737 Max was involved in two deadly crashes

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 10,000

Boeing

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX.

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  • On Sunday, Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.
  • The incident, which killed all 157 on board, marked the second crash of a nearly brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 in recent months. Lion Air Flight JT610 crashed in October.
  • Here are the US airlines with the greatest exposure to the Boeing 737 Max according to Raymond James analyst Savi Syth.

The Boeing 737 Max is a big deal. It's the fastest selling airliner in Boeing history and is expected to carry the highly successful 737 program into the next decade.

On Sunday, Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. The incident, which killed all 157 on board, marked the second crash of a nearly brand new 737 Max 8 in recent months. Lion Air Flight JT610 crashed in October.

Boeing's announcement, on Tuesday, that it will roll out updated control software for plane over the next few weeks, has not prevented regulators from grounding the plane.

On Tuesday, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has banned all Boeing 737 Max airliners from flying in Europe. EASA joins national regulators across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia in grounding the jet.

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Read more: These 12 airlines have the most Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in their fleet.

However, Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and its US operators have reaffirmed their confidence in the 737 Max.

In the US, the 737 Max is operated by American, Southwest, and United Airlines. In a note published on Monday, Raymond James analyst Savi Syth outlined the exposure of each operator to the 737 Max.

Southwest Airlines is the world's largest operator of the Boeing 737. So it comes as no surprise that it's also the largest operator of the 737 Max 8 with 34 planes. According to Syth, that represents 5% of the airline's total seat count between March and June of 2019.

According to Raymond James note, 2% of American's seat inventory between now and June is on board its 24 Boeing 737 Max 8 airliners. Unlike the others, United Airlines does not fly the 737 Max 8 variant that was involved in the two crashes. Instead, the Chicago-based airline operates 14 of the larger Max 9 model. Syth's note indicates only 1% of United's seat exposure in March will be on the Max 9. That figure increases to 2% in April, May, and June.

Boeing is still working to ramp up the production rate of the Boeing 737 Max which entered service in 2017. As a result, no US airline is greatly exposed to the troubles of the 737 Max program. Even for Southwest, its 34 Max jets are but a small part of its 750-jet fleet. American is the largest airline in the world with roughly 1,000 planes in its inventory.

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More about the Boeing 737 MAX 8 and the Ethiopian Airlines disaster:

Get the latest Boeing stock price here.

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