FILE - In this April 8, 2019, file photo Boeing 737 Max 8 jets are parked behind a stop sign indicating a traffic crossing at a Boeing Co. production facility in Renton, Wash. On Monday, Dec. 16, shares of Boeing are falling before the opening bell on a report that the company may cut production of its troubled 737 Max or even end production all together. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
The Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) - Boeing Co. said Monday that it will temporarily stop producing its grounded 737 Max jet starting in January as it struggles to get approval from regulators to put the plane back in the air.
The Chicago-based company said production would halt at its plant with 12,000 employees in Renton, Washington, near Seattle.
Boeing said it doesn't expect any layoffs as a result of the production halt "at this time." But layoffs could ripple through some of the 900 companies that supply parts for the plane.
The Max is Boeing's most important jet, but it has been grounded since March after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed total of 346 people.
The company's stock came under pressure Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported on the possibility of a Max production halt. Boeing weighed the move after regulators U.S. regulators told it that its timetable for the return of the Max was unrealistic, the Journal reported.
Shares of Boeing Co. closed Monday down $14.67, or 4.3%, at $327.
FILE - In this March 27, 2019, file photo, a worker enters a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane during a brief media tour of Boeing's 737 assembly facility in Renton, Wash. On Monday, Dec. 16, shares of Boeing are falling before the opening bell on a report that the company may cut production of its troubled 737 Max or even end production all together. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
The Associated Press
A Boeing worker walks in view of a 737 MAX jet Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, in Renton, Wash. Shares of Boeing fell before the opening bell on a report that the company may cut production of its troubled 737 MAX or even end production all together. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
The Associated Press
A worker looks up underneath a Boeing 737 MAX jet Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, in Renton, Wash. Shares of Boeing fell before the opening bell on a report that the company may cut production of its troubled 737 MAX or even end production all together. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
The Associated Press
Boeing workers exit the plant in front of a giant mural of a jet on the side of the manufacturing building behind Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, in Renton, Wash. Shares of Boeing fell before the opening bell on a report that the company may cut production of its troubled 737 MAX or even end production all together. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2019, file photo workers walk near a Boeing 737 Max airplane being built for Oman Air at Renton Municipal Airport in Renton, Wash. On Monday, Dec. 16, shares of Boeing are falling before the opening bell on a report that the company may cut production of its troubled 737 Max or even end production all together. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
The Associated Press