Aerospace company Boeing is putting production of its grounded 737 Max on an indefinite halt. The decision follows an announcement by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last week that the plan’s return to service will not be approved by the end of the year.

The move was finalized after the multinational corporation held its regular two-day meeting last Sunday.

“Safely returning the 737 Max to service is our top priority,” the company said in a statement published by The Guardian. The statement continued:

“We know that the process of approving the 737 Max’s return to service, and of determining appropriate training requirements, must be extraordinarily thorough and robust, to ensure that our regulators, customers, and the flying public have confidence in the 737 Max updates.”

Boeing’s Max 737 was the company’s best selling aircraft. It later gained international media attention after two planes of the same model were involved in fatal crashes where 346 people had died. Since then, over 700 planes of this model has remained grounded globally. The last time Boeing suspended its 737 production dates back to 20 years. It is believed that this would be a significant blow on the economy of the United States as stocks are expected to go down.

Boeing is America’s largest manufacturing exporter and shutting down operations will have a significant impact on suppliers across the United States. This will directly hit the country’s manufacturing sector that is already in a troubling state. The international airline industry has already felt the effects of the suspension after thousands of scheduled flights were canceled as a result.