The ripple effects of Boeing’s decision to suspend production of the grounded 737 Max aircraft were felt around the world on Tuesday as shares in global suppliers to the US planemaker fell sharply.

Boeing temporarily suspended production of the grounded 737 Max aircraft on Monday after the Federal Aviation Administration said it would not approve the plane’s return to service before 2020. More than 700 Max jets were grounded around the world in March following two fatal crashes that claimed 346 lives.

The grounding has already cost Boeing more than $9bn (£6.85bn) in customer compensation and extra costs. The 737 Max was previously Boeing’s best-selling plane, with 580 deliveries during 2018. Boeing’s overall deliveries had fallen by half during the first nine months of the year.

Brett Ryan, senior US economist at Deutsche Bank, said he estimated the shutdown would knock 0.4 percentage points off real GDP growth in the US in the current quarter and the start of next year.

Shares of Kansas-based Spirit Aerosystems, Boeing’s largest supplier and maker of the Max fuselage along with other parts, fell 3.4% on Monday and were down 2% on Tuesday.

Senior, which makes airframe and engine components for the Max, was the biggest faller on the FTSE 250 index down 11% on Tuesday. Boeing is the biggest customer for Senior’s aerospace division, which has been hit by a fall in revenues in recent months, partly because of the grounding of the 737 Max.

CFM International, a joint venture between France’s Safran and General Electric that supplies engines to the Max, will also be hit by the shutdown. The Max’s problems are expected to badly affect GE. When Boeing cut monthly production of the plane to 42 from 52 in April, GE suffered a $400m quarterly reduction in cash flow. Safran shares fell by 1.2%.

While Boeing’s British manufacturing footprint is limited, it spends £2bn a year with 300 UK suppliers. They include the engineering group Senior, the defence technology firm QinetiQ, and the aerospace and defence firms Meggitt and Ultra Electronics.

QinetiQ shares fell 0.7%; Meggitt, which makes the fire detector system for the Max engine and auxiliary power unit, slipped 1.5%; and Ultra Electronics, which supplies wing ice protection systems to Boeing, lost 1.1%. Melrose Industries, whose GKN business makes windows for the 737 Max, also fell more than 0.8%.

The financial effects have rippled around the US manufacturing sector as Boeing’s efforts to regain authorisation have faced repeated setbacks.

Boeing is the world’s largest aviation manufacturer but has so far held back from making any of the 12,000 workers at its 737 factory in Renton, Washington state, redundant, although it had been working on the assumption it would gain regulatory approval during 2019 as recently as October.

Boeing suspends production of 737 Max model involved in fatal crashes Read more

An extended pause to production could have further ramifications for airlines in the UK planning to operate the 737 Max. Shares in the owner of British Airways, International Airlines Group and Ryanair, which has ordered 135 Max planes, were both down by more than 2%.

Tui, which briefly flew 15 such planes and was expecting another eight deliveries earlier this year, said a temporary stop would not have any impact. Its next eight 737 Max aircraft are among 400 already built and in storage in Seattle.

Tui last week said the 737 Max grounding would cost it €130m (£110m) if the plane returns to service in April, and up to €350-400m if it cannot fly next summer.