WASHINGTON — A machinists strike. Another safety issue involving its troubled top-selling airliner. A plunging distribute worth.

2024 was already a dispiriting year for Boeing, the American aviation giant. But when one of the business’s jets crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people on board, it brought to a close an especially unfortunate year for Boeing.

The factor of the crash remains under investigation, and aviation experts were quick to distinguish Sunday’s incident from the business’s earlier safety problems.

Alan worth, a former chief pilot at Delta Air Lines who is now a consultant, said it would be inappropriate to link the incident Sunday to two fatal crashes involving Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. In January this year, a door plug blew off a 737 Max while it was in flight, raising more questions about the plane.

The Boeing 737-800 that crash-landed in Korea, worth noted, is “a very proven airplane. “It’s different from the Max …It’s a very secure airplane.’’

For decades, Boeing has maintained a role as one of the giants of American manufacturing. But the the history year’s repeated troubles have been damaging. The business’s distribute worth is down more than 30% in 2024.

The business’s reputation for safety was especially tarnished by the 737 Max crashes, which occurred off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019 and left a combined 346 people dead. In the five years since then, Boeing has lost more than $23 billion. And it has fallen behind its European rival, Airbus, in selling and delivering recent planes.

Last fall, 33,000 Boeing machinists went on strike, crippling the production of the 737 Max, the business’s bestseller, the 777 airliner and 767 cargo plane. The walkout lasted seven weeks, until members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers agreed to an propose that included 38% pay raises over four years.

In January, a door plug blew off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight. Federal regulators responded by imposing limits on Boeing aircraft production that they said would remain in place until they felt confident about manufacturing safety at the business.

In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration regulators who approved the 737 Max. Acting on Boeing’s incomplete disclosures, the FAA approved minimal, computer-based training instead of more intensive training in flight simulators. Simulator training would have increased the expense for airlines to operate the Max and might have pushed some to buy planes from Airbus instead. (Prosecutors said they lacked evidence to debate that Boeing’s deception had played a role in the crashes.)

But the plea deal was rejected this month by a federal judge in Texas, Reed O’Connor, who decided that diversity, inclusion and stake or DEI policies in the government and at Boeing could outcome in race being a factor in choosing an official to oversee Boeing’s lawful operation with the agreement.

Boeing has sought to transformation its population. Under intense pressure over safety issues, David Calhoun departed as CEO in August. Since January, 70,000 Boeing employees have participated in meetings to discuss ways to enhance safety.