Boeing's "cash cow" – its best-selling 737 MAX aircraft – the latest crisis occurred in January of this year, when an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 aircraft fell out of its hatch and finally made an emergency landing.
The FAA, the U.S. aviation regulator, briefly suspended the aircraft for safety inspections, a move that was less severe than the previous grounding of all MAX Series aircraft worldwide following two deadly Boeing crashes.
Below, we sort out the timeline around the MAX crisis that Boeing has encountered in recent years:
October 2018: A Lion Air MAX 8 crashes in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.
November 2018: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing say they are evaluating whether the 737 MAX aircraft needs software or design changes following the Lion Air crash.
March 2019: An Ethiopian Airlines MAX 8 plane crashes, killing all 157 people on board. China's aviation regulator was the first country in the world to ground MAX aircraft, and others including the U.S. FAA followed suit.
April 2019: The FAA formed an international team to review the safety of the 737 Max. Boeing cut its monthly aircraft production by nearly 20 percent.
July 2019: Boeing reports its biggest quarterly loss ever.
September 2019: Boeing's Board of Directors established a standing safety committee to oversee the development, manufacture and operation of its aircraft.
October 2019: Boeing fires Kevin McAllister, an executive in its commercial aircraft division.
December 2020: Boeing fires its chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, after two crashes.
January 2020: Boeing suspends production of the 737, the largest assembly line shutdown in more than 20 years.
May 2020: Boeing resumes production of the 737 Max at "low speeds".
June 2020: Boeing begins a series of long-delayed flight tests of its redesigned 737 Max, which is overseen by regulators.
September 2020: An 18-month investigation by a U.S. House of Representatives panel found that Boeing had deficiencies in MAX design and development, the FAA in transparency, and the FAA in oversight and aircraft certification.
November 2020: The US FAA lifts the grounding order, allowing the 737 MAX to fly again.
December 2020: The U.S. Congress passes legislation to reform the way the FAA certifies new aircraft, including requiring manufacturers to disclose certain safety-critical information to the FAA.
January 2021: EASA approves MAX to resume operations in Europe.
March 2021: China's aviation regulator says major safety issues at MAX need to be "properly addressed" before flight tests can be conducted.
April 2021: Boeing suspended deliveries of the 737 MAX due to electrical issues that led to the regrounding of part of the fleet.
November 2021: Current and former Boeing directors and shareholders agreed on 2$37.5 billion settlement to settle a lawsuit over 737 MAX safety oversight.
October 2022: The FAA informed Boeing that some of the key documents submitted as part of the 737 MAX 7 certification review were incomplete and that others needed to be re-evaluated.
December 2022: After much lobbying by Boeing, Congress agrees to extend the deadline for a new standard for modern cockpit alerts set forth by the 2020 legislation.
April 2023: Boeing suspends deliveries of some 737 Max to address new first-tier quality issues involving non-compliant parts.
July 2023: Boeing says deliveries of the first 737 MAX 7 have been delayed until 2024.
August 2023: Boeing has identified a new 737 max** business quality issue involving improperly drilled holes in the rear pressure bulkhead.
September 2023: Boeing 737 MAX deliveries fall to their lowest level since August 2021.
December 2023: Boeing delivers 787 aircraft directly to China for the first time since 2019; At the same time, China thawed the delivery of 737 MAX aircraft.
January 2024: An Alaska Airlines MAX 9 aircraft made an emergency landing, prompting the U.S. FAA to ground 171 of the aircraft and launch an investigation. The FAA also banned Boeing from increasing MAX production, but lifted the grounding of MAX 9 aircraft after inspections were completed.
February 2024: The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a preliminary report on the Alaska Airlines MAX 9 aircraft accident. According to the investigation, the hatch that the aircraft flew out of mid-flight was missing four key bolts.
March 2024: Boeing said it is in preliminary talks to acquire its former subsidiary Spirit Aerosystems. Spirit confirmed that discussions are currently underway with Boeing.