B737 MAX Woes Mount For Boeing

Last week it became clearer that the B737 MAX 7 and MAX 10 would not be certified by year-end.  Now there is another problem.

Geoffrey Thomas

By Geoffrey Thomas Fri Oct 7, 2022

Last week it became clearer that the B737 MAX 7 and MAX 10 would not be certified by year-end.  This is despite some political manoeuvring to help Boeing. The latest MAX wrinkle leads to another.

This morning we have another wrinkle – American Airlines pilots oppose the extension of the current MAX certification to cover the MAX 7 and MAX 10. American has not ordered either of these two MAX models. The Allied Pilots Association (APA) union is large, with 15.000 members and this makes it influential.  What might the pilot unions at other big US airlines do now? If they come out with the same approach, the pressure on Congress not to provide Boeing with the grandfather protection it seeks mounts.

Against that, we have Boeing’s CEO Dave Calhoun’s statement that the company could cancel the MAX 10. We are back to the standoff and who’s going to blink first?

An important number is that the MAX 10 accounts for 720 (17.3%) of the MAX backlog. The MAX 7 is much smaller at 200.   Recently there has been strong order support for the MAX10. While the MAX7 order level is comparatively low, the critical mass for these comes from Boeing’s most important 737 customer, Southwest Airlines.

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