MW Boeing shares fall in wake of deadliest air crash in South Korean history
By Louis Goss
Boeing shares fell sharply on Monday morning after South Korea's acting president Choi Sang-mok ordered an emergency inspection of the country's entire airline operations in the wake of the Jeju Air plane crash on Sunday that killed 179 people.
Jeju Air's flight 2216 crash landed at South Korea's Muan International Airport at 9:03am local time on Dec. 29, killing 179 of the twin-engine Boeing 737-800 plane's 181 passengers who were traveling from Bangkok, Thailand.
See: South Korea to inspect all Boeing aircraft as it tries to find cause of crash that killed 179
South Korea's acting president Choi Sang-mok, who assumed office just three days ago on Dec. 27, has now ordered an emergency inspection of the entirety of South Korea's airline operations while authorities separately carry out an inspection of all Boeing 737-800 planes.
Boeing $(BA)$ shares, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, fell 5% in Monday's premarket trading session, having lost 31% of their value in the year-to-date 2024.
The catastrophic incident on Sunday saw Jeju Air's plane attempt to land without its landing gear before crashing into a wall at Muan International Airport and bursting into flames in what marks the deadliest plane crash ever seen on South Korean soil.
Air traffic control had authorised the Jeju Air plane's request for an emergency landing at Muan International Airport, near South Korea's sixth-largest city Gwangju, at 8:54 am local time, having issued a warning about bird activity in the area just minutes earlier.
Authorities later confirmed two flight attendants had survived the crash with serious injuries. All remaining 179 passengers on-board the plane were confirmed to have died in the incident which marks the deadliest air crash Lion Air Flight 610 landed in the Java sea killing 189 people.
Jeju Air (KR:089590), South Korea's largest low cost airline, was first formed in 2005 as a joint venture between South Korean conglomerate Aekyung Group and the Jeju provincial government which runs Jeju island off the southern coast of the Korean peninsula.
Boeing, the world's second largest plane manufacturer behind its main rival Airbus, has faced mounting scrutiny in 2024 after a panel blew off one of its 737 MAX 9 planes on January 5, causing an Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.
-Louis Goss
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 30, 2024 05:39 ET (10:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
