Boeing shares fall 8% after Dreamliner crashes in India

Shares of planemaker Boeing fell 8 percent in premarket U.S. trading on Thursday after an Air India 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft with 242 people crashed minutes after taking off from India's western city of Ahmedabad.

The plane was headed to Gatwick Airport in the UK, with police officers saying it crashed in a civilian area near the Ahmedabad airport.

The fatal crash tarnishes the Dreamliner jet's safety record and could muddy Boeing's efforts to rebuild trust related to safety and ramp up production under new chief executive officer Kelly Orthberg.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. Boeing said in a statement it was aware of initial reports and was working to gather more information.

While battery issues once grounded the 787 planes – one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service – the widebody jets have never had a fatal crash until the Air India incident.

Boeing, however, has faced years of scrutiny and delays over its narrowbody 737 MAX jets, which were grounded for years following two fatal crashes.

Shares of Spirit AeroSystems, a key supplier, and GE Aerospace, which makes engines for the jet, also fell about 4 percent each.

GE Aerospace said in a post on X that it has activated its emergency response team and will support the investigation, but did not specify if the Air India aircraft was equipped with its engines.

The engine maker did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comments.

Boeing's shares were down about 8 percent at $196.75 in premarket trading.

"It's a knee jerk reaction (to the incident) and there's revised fears of the problems that plagued Boeing aircraft and Boeing itself in recent years," said Chris Beauchamp, analyst at IG Group.