WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - United Airlines (UAL) CEO Scott Kirby shared his doubts and concerns in an interview with CNBC about the 737 Max 10 deliveries amid Boeing's safety and quality-related problems.
The company had earlier ordered 277 Boeing Max 10 along with an option to purchase an additional 200 in the future. However, the order has been delayed.
In a call with the investors, Kirby said that the airline is not quite cancelling the order for Max 10, but at the same time, it does not anticipate that it would receive the planes.
He further explained, 'We are taking it out of our internal plans.' Kirby added, 'And we'll be working on what that means exactly with Boeing. But Boeing is not going to be able to meet their contractual deliveries on at least many of those airplanes. And let's leave it at that.'
The Airlines currently has 79 of the Boeing's Max 9, which were recently grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration after a door plug blew off on an Alaska Air flight on January 5, leaving a hole on the plane's side.
Reacting on the incident, Kirby said, 'I think the Max 9 grounding is probably the straw that broke the camel's back for us.'
According to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm, United Airlines has the largest number of Max 9 planes and it had scheduled around 8,000 flights with the plane before the incident was reported.
The CEO said that the company expects a loss of $116 million to $262 million in the first quarter. 'We're still going to be the fastest growing airline,' Kirby emphasized. 'But we're not going to be as fast growing as we planned.'
Reacting to the problems faced by its customers, Boeing head Stan Deal said, 'We are taking action on a comprehensive plan to bring these airplanes safely back to service and to improve our quality and delivery performance. We will follow the lead of the FAA and support our customers every step of the way.'
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