Boeing said on Tuesday orders nearly halved in the first quarter and the plane maker handed over far fewer aircraft, as it struggled with the worldwide grounding of its best-selling 737 Max jets following two fatal crashes. Net orders, an indication of future demand, fell to 95 aircraft in the first quarter from 180 a year earlier. There were no new Max orders in March, the company said. The fall in order suggests that airlines had adopted a wait-and-watch approach as Boeing looks to ride out the worst crisis in its history. Deliveries of the 737 planes fell to 89 in the first quarter from 132 a year earlier. Eleven Max were delivered in March, compared with 26 in February. Boeing froze deliveries of the aircraft after a global grounding of the narrow-body model following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet on March 10th, killing all 157 people on board. The 737 Max, a new variant of the 737 family, is central to Boeing's future in its battle with European rival Airbus SE and the likely workhorse for global airlines for decades. – Reuters