Shares of companies that supply parts for Boeing’s grounded 737 Max have fallen in the days since word leaked that Boeing will halt production of the aircraft. Fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems, which on Friday said it will end deliveries for the Max, appears hardest hit with a 5.7% decline, followed by composite structure manufacturer Hexcel at minus 4.4%. Shares of Astronics, which makes exterior lighting and parts above passengers with lights and vents, dropped 4.2%, while stock in Ducommun, which makes spoilers and titanium structure parts, dropped 2.5%. Some analysts predicted that suppliers will have financial trouble
because of the indefinite production halt, which begins next month. But Cannacord analyst Ken Herbert expects Boeing to pay to keep suppliers running, on a company-by-company basis. “The exact financial details are still to be worked out, and we expect the supply chain to maintain some Max production,” he wrote in a note to investors. The planes were grounded in March after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people. Boeing is reworking flight control software that has been blamed as a major factor in the crashes. The company is awaiting regulators’ approval of the software, but that has taken longer than originally expected.