Boeing next month will temporarily stop making the 737 Max, its most popular passenger jet, the company said on Monday.

The decision, after a two-day board meeting, is the culmination of the worst crisis in the company’s 103-year history and follows two crashes that killed 346 people. Boeing had repeatedly signaled that the plane would be cleared to return to the sky before the end of the year.

Boeing’s decision could ripple through the American economy. The company is America’s largest manufacturing exporter and it views the 737 Max as critical to its future.

This new model of its workhorse 737 was begun under pressure in 2011 as the company sought to fend off competition from its European rival, Airbus. But after the two crashes, prosecutors, regulators and two congressional committees are investigating whether Boeing overlooked safety risks and played down the need for pilot training in its effort to design, produce and certify the plane as quickly as possible.