On Jan. 21, 2020, Boeing (NYSE: BA) announced a further delay in its anticipated ungrounding of the 737 MAX, stating expectations for mid-2020. The January release was a painful follow-up to a December 2019 announcement in which Boeing said it would suspend 737 MAX production starting in January 2020 as a result of uncertain Federal Aviation Administration and global regulatory authorities' reservice approval.
The news is crippling to Boeing, which had reached production of around 400 MAX planes that it cannot sell despite thousands of pre-orders from airlines across the world. Worst of all is that mid-2020 is simply Boeing's best guess, and that means airlines who expected to be flying dozens of 737 MAX aircraft by now might have fewer planes to respond to the summer travel season this year. Here are the biggest winners and losers from Boeing's announcement, some of which may surprise you.