Turkish Airlines is the latest carrier to adjust its 737 MAX order book, and the news is not good for Boeing. The carrier’s restructured order includes cancellations, conversion to options, and deferral of future deliveries for the single-aisle aircraft.
The carrier previously placed orders for 75 MAXen, 65 –8s and 10 –9s. A dozen deliveries (11x –8, 1x –9) came prior to the global grounding related to a pair of crashes. The grounding is over and Turkish returned the plane to service last week, but the future fleet will be much smaller according to a filing with the Borsa Istanbul.
Of the remaining 63 aircraft in the order:
- 10 are cancelled outright
- 40 are converted to options with a decision date of 21 December 2021
- 13 firm orders remain, but delivery is deferred “in line with the operational and financial capacity of our Incorporation”
The order restructuring comes on top of a reported $225 million in compensation to the carrier related to the 2019 grounding.
Suppliers affected as well
While Boeing bears the brunt of the cancellation/deferral impact, other suppliers will also be affected. Panasonic Avionics secured a deal at the end of 2016 to fit the MAX fleet with in-flight entertainment and satellite connectivity services. Losing 50 frames from the backlog is not debilitating to the company, but also not good news.
Collins Aerospace will be similarly impacted. It provides the MiQ seat for the business class cabin on the Turkish 737 MAX fleet. TSI Seating’s Epianka model flies in the economy class cabin.
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BA only has themselves to blame lets not kid ourselves Boeing is now number 2 in the world and if the Chinese get their way Boeing will be relegated to number 3 same is going for our military. SAD