Boeing scores orders, customer rebuke at Farnborough’s day one

Some of the deals are not firm orders. But Boeing still showed up to day one of the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow with a solid roster of announcements. Alas, it was the unplanned news that might catch more attention.

Big deals for big planes in Asia

The aircraft manufacturer kicked off the morning with announcements from Korean Air (20x 777X, 20x 787-10, 10x 787-10 options) and from Japan Airlines (10x 787-9, 10 787-9 options). That the Korean deal is an MoU rather than a firm order probably doesn’t matter too much, but that is part of the story.

In the single-aisle market Luxair ordered a pair of MAX 10s, with a pair of options, to help grow its capacity in Europe.

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An unexpected twist from Dubai

Separate from the good news Boeing touted at the show, however, came an unexpected release from flydubai. The airline announced that it no longer expects to receive any of the 14 737 MAX aircraft it was due in 2024, and it is decidedly unhappy about the situation. – flydubai statement

Ongoing challenges with Boeing’s delivery schedule resulted in fewer aircraft being delivered every year for the past three years. Multiple revisions of the delivery schedule for 2024 meant that Boeing will not deliver the 14 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft originally scheduled for the year.

– flydubai statement

In the release CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith calls out not only the scale of the delivery delays, but also their timing, “We are extremely disappointed to learn that Boeing will not be able to fulfil its commitment to deliver more aircraft for the remainder of the year. Boeing’s short-noticed and frequent delivery schedule revisions have hindered our strategic growth plans resulting in significant disruptions to our published schedules.”

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While flydubai has taken delivery of new planes in the first half of 2024, it points out that those “were from the backlog of previous years and faced extensive delays.”

The airline is an all-Boeing operation. That position is expected to grow, with an order for 30 787s announced at the Dubai Air Show last November. And there isn’t much in the way of spare delivery capacity available from Airbus, even if the airline wanted to flip its fleet over.

Still, a public rebuke like this, especially given the timing, is hard to ignore.

More news from the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow

• Boeing scores orders, customer rebuke at Farnborough’s day one
• Lufthansa Technik adds 787 retrofit capacity
• Window seats win with Qatar Airways’ next gen Qsuites
• Airbus, flynas deliver largest order for Farnborough 2024
• Turkish Airlines unveils Crystal Suite business class cabin
• Turkish plans free inflight Wi-Fi
• Embraer plans satellite connectivity for E175s