A Boeing 737 MAX 9 from United Airlines takes off from Los Angeles airport on September 11, 2023 (AFP / Patrick T. Fallon)
The American airline United Airlines is forced to redo its planning for the coming years due to the problems encountered by Boeing in the 737 MAX family, its flagship model.
Scott Kirby, boss of the airline, spoke to analysts on Tuesday about the flight suspension of the 737 MAX 9 since January 6 as well as orders for the 737 MAX 10, an aircraft which is still not certified by regulatory authorities.
“We are not canceling the order (of MAX 10). We are removing it from our internal plans,” Mr. Kirby said.
The MAX 10, the largest aircraft in the 737 MAX family, made its first flight in June 2021. At the time, its first deliveries were scheduled for 2023.
“In 2024, we have a total of 107 aircraft scheduled to be delivered, including 31 MAX models, but it is unrealistic at this point to think that all of these aircraft will be delivered as planned,” commented CFO Mike Leskinen.
He said United was also counting on delivering 277 MAX 10s by the end of the decade and options for 200 more.
“It’s a fantastic plane but we can’t count on it,” he noted, saying the company needed to “rework the fleet programming.”
“We are monitoring Boeing’s progress regarding certification,” he continued, also expecting lower deliveries at least until 2025 due to supply chain problems and the flight suspension. of the MAX 9 by the American Civil Aviation Regulatory Agency (FAA).
On January 5, an obstructed cabin door of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 flying from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, came loose in flight.
United has the largest fleet of this type of aircraft (79 planes), which represented approximately 8% of its capacity in the first quarter, Mr. Kirby said Tuesday.
By unveiling its results for the end of 2023 on Monday evening, the group announced that it anticipated a net loss in the first quarter of 2024 of between 35 and 85 cents per share with the assumption of a suspension until January 31.
For Mr. Kirby, this suspension constitutes “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.
Interviewed earlier on CNBC, he said he was “disappointed by the production problems that continue to arise at Boeing.”
“They must take real actions to regain the highest levels of quality that historically existed in production processes,” he argued.