Qatar is awaiting the 737 crash report before the delivery of new Boeing planes, Citya reported. 

Chief executive Akbar al-Baker said the shipment, due in April, will not go ahead “until we know exactly what the result of the investigation is and how long it will take the airplane to get airborne again”.

The airline has ordered 20 of the model.

The 737 Max range, Boeing’s new flagship plane designed to be a mainstay for decades to come, has been grounded by authorities across the globe after an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed on 10 March, killing 157 people.

Initial findings from a probe into an earlier 737 Max crash in Indonesia in October, which killed 189 people, found the aircraft’s anti-stall system may have caused the aeroplane to nosedive in a malfunction.

Ethiopian Airlines chief Tewolde GebreMariam said on Monday that the company “believes in Boeing,” despite the incidents.

He continued to rebuff criticism which first emerged last week that the pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines jet had not had a chance to practise on the airline’s simulator for the new Boeing model before the crash.

Captain Yared Getachew, 29, was scheduled to take a refresher course at the end of March, a colleague told Reuters, two months after the company had received the simulator.

The crew of flight 302 had been “fully trained” on updates issued after the Indonesia crash and “were trained on all appropriate simulators,” Said GebreMariam.

Boeing is partway through a group of sessions with pilots and operators from around the world who fly the 737 Max range, to review proposed changes to the anti-stall software.

The firm’s shares were up 0.5 per cent in pre-market trading this morning.

It follows the news American Airlines has extended its flight cancellation period to 24 April due to the grounding of the jets.

The US airline said it will cancel roughly 90 flights a day as its 24 Max jets remain grounded, while some flights scheduled for other models may also be cancelled.