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• Aircraft lost cruising altitude of nearly 26,000 feet under 3 minutes
• Chinese President Xi ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash
Boeing Co (NYSE: BA) and its suppliers’ shares fell on Monday after an aircraft manufactured by the U.S. planemaker with 132 people on board crashed in the mountains of southern China.
Shares of the planemaker dropped over 3.6% and closed at $185.90, which at the starting of the trading session dropped as low as 6.3%.
While Boeing’s website says that its 737-800 jets are equipped with a CFM-56 engine, it was not immediately apparent if the aircraft involved in the accident had the same engine as airlines get options to choose engines from other suppliers.
The CFM engines are made by a joint venture between General Electric Co (NYSE: GE) and France’s Safran SA. GE shares dropped nearly 0.8%, while France-listed Safran fell around 2.8%.
The U.S. listed ADRs of China Eastern Airlines (NYSE: CEA) plummeted over 6.3%.
Parts suppliers Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc (NYSE: SPR), Hexcel Corp (NYSE: HXL), were down around 3.5% and 0.9%, respectively.
Rapid descend within minutes
While the cause of the crash was yet unknown, online flight-tracker FlightRadar 24 on Monday reported that the China Eastern Airlines operated six-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet lost a cruising altitude of nearly 26,000 feet under 3 minutes.
The flight departed Kunming at 01:16 pm Chinese time and reached a cruising altitude of 29,100 feet at 01:27 pm. The flight continued cruising normally until 02:20 pm, when the aircraft descended to 7425 feet rapidly before recovering to 8600 feet.
The website showed no data for the flight after 2:22 pm.
Following the crash, Chinese state media said the airline has grounded its 737-800 fleet, which according to the flight tracking website, had 109 such planes.
Picture Credit: BBC