Boeing is telling customers and suppliers that the 737 MAX will not receive its first regulatory approvals until “mid-2020,” which all but ensures MAX operators will not have the aircraft before the peak mid-year travel period ends.
Boeing stakeholders may find out more information about the costs of the 737 MAX fiasco during the company’s Jan. 29 report on 2019 financial results. While Boeing previously identified $5.6 billion in pretax customer compensation for aircraft operators, and added $3.6 billion to the 737’s program accounting block-cost, financial analysts, consultants and others see those figures as just a beginning.
The FAA’s certification process is not fundamentally flawed and “was followed” during the Boeing 737 MAX certification, but shortcomings in key guidance, global perspective, safety assessments, and agency staffing should be addressed to improve the system, an independent committee’s report found.
Southwest Airlines will not resume commercial Boeing 737 MAX operations until June 6, bringing its schedule into line with fellow U.S.-based MAX operators American Airlines and United Airlines.
Malaysia Airlines will not take delivery of any Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in 2020, citing uncertainty surrounding the timing of the aircraft’s clearance by authorities.
Boeing ended 2019 with 380 commercial airplane deliveries—fewer than the number of 737 MAXs it has in storage—and saw its cumulative net order book shrink, largely because of a drop in MAX commitments.
American Airlines has delayed its projected timeline for resuming Boeing 737 MAX operations by two months, until June 4, reflecting continued uncertainty about the timing of the aircraft’s recertification by the FAA.
U.S. House lawmakers investigating the design and development of the Boeing 737 MAX issued their sternest rebuke of the embattled manufacturer to date, following the release of a trove of internal documents late Jan. 9 that drew widespread condemnation on Capitol Hill.
Spirit AeroSystems, the leading aerostructures provider and Boeing’s top supplier, announced Jan. 10 it is laying off 2,800 of its employees in Wichita due to t
Aeromexico and American Airlines are the two latest airlines to settle with Boeing over compensation terms related to the ongoing grounding of the 737 MAX.
Boeing will urge operators to put 737 MAX crews through simulator sessions before they return to line flying–an about-face triggered by recent trials that showed line pilots were not executing emergency procedures correctly, the company said Jan. 7.
Calgary-based WestJet has removed all Boeing 737 MAX operations from its schedule through Apr. 4, marking the carrier’s ninth MAX-related schedule update since the type was grounded in mid-March 2019.
Boeing on Jan. 6 provided more details on how the 737 MAX production pause will progress, while major program supplier Spirit AeroSystems said it will begin accepting “voluntary” layoffs.
The deal between Turkish Airlines and Boeing suggest that customer compensation-related costs related to the MAX grounding are trending significantly higher than initial estimates, Bloomberg analysts said.
Turkish Airlines and Boeing have reached a compensation agreement for losses caused by the 737 MAX grounding, according to an airline statement to the Borsa Istanbul stock exchange on Dec. 31, 2019.
United Airlines has removed its Boeing 737 MAXs from schedules through June 4, 2020—a three-month extension that signals a growing lack of confidence that the model’s grounding is close to ending.
Spirit AeroSystems, the leading supplier of 737 aerostructures to Boeing, announced Dec. 20 that it will stop producing new 737 aerostructures and halt deliveries to its OEM customer on Jan. 1, 2020.
Days after Boeing announced a coming halt to production of its 737 MAX, the first forecasts to emerge from financial analysts covering aerospace and defense (A&D) still see good business prospects for the sector in 2020 but with several caveats, and with far cloudier horizons.
Days after Boeing announced a production halt of the 737 MAX, the three major U.S. credit rating agencies have turned slightly negative on the manufacturer with new outlooks that stress growing demands on the company’s credit access and softening cash prospects.
Following Boeing’s announcement that it would temporarily halt production of the 737 MAX, its large and small suppliers are assessing the potential impact to their operations.
European tour operator TUI Group has confirmed it has taken a €293 million ($320 million) hit as a result of the Boeing 737 MAX grounding for its fiscal 2019, which ended Sept. 30.
