43 Boeing 737 MAX airplane orders were cancelled and 9 additional ones removed from the backlog. Boeing registered no new orders in July, bringing this year’s total cancellations to 416, or 864 including the ones removed by the company due to uncertainty.
Although the number of cancelled aircraft in July comes short to the 60 in June, there is still no sign of cancellations slowing down. Early August saw at least several airlines reducing their 737 MAX orders, including Alfaco and Icelandair.
Highlighting Boeing’s troubles, the manufacturer delivered just 4 aircraft in July, two 787 Dreamliners and two freighters – one 767 and one 777. Since airlines usually pay for their aircraft on delivery, Boeing is sinking deeper and deeper into a very difficult financial situation. Whole second quarter of 2020 saw the company delivering just 20 planes, in contrast to 90 delivered in Q2 2019 and 194 in Q2 2018.
Boeing had been betting heavily on its bestseller 737 MAX, before the aircraft was grounded in March 2019 after two tragic crashes caused by faulty avionics software. More than a year later, there are glimpses of hope for the model to fly again before October 2020.
While some companies, such as Ryanair, still place a lot of hope into their new 737 MAX deliveries, others find the situation unacceptable and are renegotiating their deals with the manufacturer.