The China Air Transport Association said Friday it will assist member airlines to seek compensation from Boeing for the grounding of 737 MAX aircraft as well as the delayed delivery of future planes.

"China’s airlines are the largest user of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, which also caused us the biggest loss during the incident,” said Liu Shuguo, secretary-general of the association. “We will actively support and assist member companies with their compensation claims.”

Thirteen of the association’s airlines by the end of March had grounded 96 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, among them Air China, China Eastern and China Southern.

According to previous plans, more than 130 such aircraft were scheduled to be delivered to Chinese airlines this year.

"It’s estimated that the delayed delivery and continued grounding of 737 MAX aircraft will cause a total loss of about 4 billion yuan by the end of June,” Liu added.