A major US airline has said it expects to lose money in the three months between January and March due to the grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 jets.
A major US airline, United Airlines, has announced that it expects to lose money in the first quarter of 2024 due to the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 9 jets. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded 171 of these planes after an unused door broke away mid-flight. United Airlines has 79 of these aircraft in its fleet, more than any other carrier, followed by Alaska Airlines.
Both airlines have been forced to cancel hundreds of flights this month as inspections are carried out. United Airlines has said that it expects the planes to remain grounded until January 26th and its forecast assumes that it won’t be able to fly them at all this month. The issues at Boeing, which is now facing government investigations of its manufacturing process, have also scrambled United’s efforts to expand its fleet.
The airline warned investors on Tuesday that deliveries of dozens of new Boeing planes, including 737 Max 9s and a not yet approved Max 10, will be delayed. Chief executive Scott Kirby told analysts that the firm has not cancelled its orders with Boeing but was considering alternatives. In an interview with CNBC, he called the latest grounding the “straw that broke the camel’s back”.
Boeing has been struggling to restore confidence since fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 involving another version of its 737 Max plane that led to a global grounding for more than 18 months. Smaller manufacturing issues have cropped up repeatedly since production restarted.
Stan Deal, head of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, said the firm had “let down” its customers and was “deeply sorry for the significant disruption to them, their employees and their passengers”. “We are taking action on a comprehensive plan to bring these airplanes safely back to service and to improve our quality and delivery performance,” he said 1
