Virgin Australia has slashed its order of 38 Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliners by 15 to 23 (a cut of nearly 40%) despite more talk from US aviation circles that the troubled airliner could be back flying in June.
Virgin isn’t listening to what is clearly Boeing-inspired leaks and commentary coming a day after a defensive board and senior management met shareholders for the company’s 2018 annual meeting.
Virgin told the ASX yesterday that safety is its No.1 priority and the Boeing deliveries are being restructured.
It’s not that Virgin has gone cold on Boeing – it’s changed the plane type and will buy more of a different type of 737 and will start taking delivery of that plane six months earlier.
Virgin said it has also postponed delivery of its first Max 8 – the type of aircraft involved in last month’s Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people – from November this year to February 2025.
Virgin Australia has instead upped its order for 10 of the larger 737 Max 10s to 25, with the first of the craft arriving in June 2021 rather than January 2022 as previously planned. the 737 10 series is not yet in service with any airline.
“As we have previously stated, we will not introduce any new aircraft to the fleet unless we are completely satisfied with its safety,” Virgin Australia Group chief executive officer Paul Scurrah said in a statement to the ASX.
“We are confident in Boeing’s commitment to returning the 737 Max to service safely and as a long-term partner of Boeing, we will be working with them through this process.”
Mr. Scurrah said the new timetable would bring “a number of positive commercial benefits” for the company, including a deferral of capital expenditure.
The airline had been due to receive its first 737 MAX 8 aircraft in November of this year but that is now delayed by six years.
Boeing’s new series of aircraft have been grounded globally since March following two fatal crashes involving MAX 8 planes, in Indonesia and Ethiopia, in the past six months that killed 346 people.
