November 11 American aviation giant Boeing said that the company only delivered 13 commercial aircraft in October. In addition, not only did not receive any new orders for commercial aircraft, but also cancelled 12 existing 737MAX orders.
According to reports, of the 13 commercial aircraft delivered by Boeing in October, only 5 were passenger aircraft, and the rest were freighters or military passenger aircraft. In the past six months, the company has delivered only 29 passenger aircraft, down from 126 in the same period in 2019.
At the same time, due to the global grounding of 737MAX aircraft and Coronavirus Pandemic, Boeing has cancelled 460 orders so far in 2020, and the company has classified another 846 orders as “uncertainty and cannot be counted as orders. statistics”. And almost all cancelled or uncertain orders are related to 737MAX aircraft.
Data map: Southwest Airlines’ Boeing 737 MAX series planes are parked at Victorville Airport, known as the “aircraft cemetery”. Affected by the previous Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft accident, the company has been forced to ground its new fleet of 34 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
Boeing Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith said on a recent investor conference call that he would have to “re-sell” an unknown number of 737MAX aircraft to some airlines. He did not disclose the specific number of completed aircraft without buyers, but said that due to the need to find new customers, some aircraft may be reconfigured and some deliveries will be delayed until 2023.
In October 2018, Indonesia Lion Air flight JT610 crashed, killing 189 people on board. Less than half a year later, in March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 also crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board. After two crashes, the Boeing 737MAX aircraft was grounded globally. The company has been working with regulators to resolve aircraft failures and seek permission to go around.
On November 9, 2020, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Director Dixon stated that the evaluation of the Boeing 737MAX aircraft design modification has entered the final stage, and the review process is expected to be completed “in the next few days.” Three sources who learned of the matter said that the FAA expects to approve the Boeing 737MAX’s go-around as soon as November 18.
However, after the FAA approves the return flight, the airline must complete software updates and brand new pilot training. This process will take at least 30 days before the 737MAX can return to the sky.
In addition, Southwest Airlines, the world’s largest MAX aircraft operator, has stated that it will take several months to meet FAA requirements. The company plans not to use 737MAX aircraft until the second quarter of 2021.
