More cancel orders for Boeing 737 Max
Boeing reported more cancellations for its 737 Max jet, which is scheduled to carry paying passengers this week for the first time since the planes were grounded 21 months ago after two deadly crashes.
Boeing said orders for 88 of the planes were canceled in November, pushing the total to 536 for the year.
The company reported 27 orders for the plane, although 25 were a new order by Virgin Australia that replaced an earlier order for 48 Max jets that was scrubbed, accounting for a majority of the month’s cancellations. The November figures don’t include Irish carrier Ryanair’s announcement last week that it will order 75 more Max jets.
Boeing said it delivered seven commercial jets during November, mostly cargo planes to UPS, FedEx, DHL and others, bringing total deliveries in 2020 to 118. European rival Airbus delivered 64 planes in November and 477 for the year.
An analyst for financial services firm Cowen, Cai von Rumohr, called Boeing’s latest report on orders and deliveries “weak on both sides of the ball.”
Shares of Boeing closed down less than 1%. They were down 27% for the year, but they have been rising since early November on expectation that the Federal Aviation Administration would let the Max fly again. The FAA issued an order on Nov. 18 that laid out required steps for airlines to resume using the plane, which was grounded in March 2019 after two crashes that killed 346 people.
On Wednesday, Brazilian airline Gol plans to operate the first flight on a Max with paying passengers since the grounding. American Airlines plans the first U. S. flight on Dec. 29.
Boeing built about 450 Max jets during the grounding but was unable to deliver them to airlines — an important hitch because Boeing gets much of its cash upon delivery. United Airlines took delivery of a Max jet Tuesday. It plans to fly the jet to Houston this week and use it to carry passengers starting early next year.
UBS has raised its rating on Boeing shares to “Buy,” saying that the availability of a vaccine for COVID19 will help air travel — and demand for airliners — grow faster than expected.