Boeing Ends Order Drought Triggered by 737 MAX Crisis -- Update
June 18 2019 - 11:11AM
Dow Jones News
By Robert Wall and Andrew Tangel
LE BOURGET, France -- Boeing Co. won a landmark 737 MAX order
from British Airways parent IAG on Tuesday, ending a sales drought
in the wake of the grounding of the aircraft following two fatal
crashes.
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, as IAG is formally
known, said it had signed a letter of intent for up to 200 Boeing
737 MAX planes. It would buy the 737 MAX 8, the model that crashed
in October and March, as well as the larger 737 MAX 10.
The company also secured a commitment from Korean Air Lines Co.
Ltd. and Air Lease Corp. to buy 787 Dreamliners;
Boeing entered the Paris Air Show in an unusual situation. The
U.S. plane maker had racked up 125 more cancellations than new
orders for this year, reflecting few bookings and a raft of
canceled orders, including from India's financially struggling Jet
Airways.
The plane maker failed to win any new orders in April or May.
Air New Zealand Ltd. said last month it would buy eight 787-10
Dreamliners, but the deal wasn't finalized.
The biennial Paris Air Show is typically a place for plane
producers to showcase new products and rack up large airliner
orders. However, this year, Boeing has had to balance that with
handling the fallout of the two 737 MAX crashes, which killed a
total of 346 people.
Boeing said Tuesday that Korean Air would deploy 20 of the
largest version of the Dreamliner, the 787-10, and 10 slightly
smaller 787-9s. The deal has a value of $6.3 billion before
industry-standard discounts. Some of the planes are being acquired
by plane-rental firm Air Lease and placed with the Asian
carrier.
Air Lease separately ordered five 787-9s at a pre-discount price
of $1.5 billion.
Rival Airbus SE continued its order haul, including for its
newly launched A321XLR, introduced at the air show on Monday.
IAG, which has long signaled interest in the plane to fly
trans-Atlantic routes, said on Tuesday it was ordering 14 A321XLRs,
six for Irish unit Aer Lingus and eight for Spain's Iberia. Both
carriers would open new trans-Atlantic routes, IAG said.
Philippine budget carrier Cebu Pacific ordered 10 of the new
Airbus planes, with first delivery in 2024, along with 16 of the
wide-body A330-900s and five A320neo single-aisle jets.
Saudi Arabian Airlines added to an earlier A320neo deal, taking
as many as 100 of the planes, including 15 of the A321XLR.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com and Andrew Tangel at
Andrew.Tangel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 18, 2019 10:56 ET (14:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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