Ethiopian Airlines might head for a divorce with Boeing 737 Max. The company, during the Dubai Air Show, said that it is still undecided if it will take further deliveries of Boeing 737 Max, as the aircraft maker continues to face one crisis after another.
Ethiopian Airlines is one of the two carriers, the other being Indonesia's Lion Air that suffered two crashes earlier this year killing 346 people. Boeing 737 Max since then has been grounded.
Ethiopian Airlines has more than 20 pending deliveries of Boeing 737 Max. According to Reuters, the airline company's chief executive officer Tewolde Gebremariam at the Dubai Air Show said that it has not yet decided if it will take deliveries of the pending Boeing 727 Max.
However, Gebremariam also said that it has faith in Boeing and wouldn't mind expanding its 787 Dreamliners deal with the aircraft maker. Investigations into the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crash revealed that an automation error led the aircraft' nose down after takeoff that resulted in the accidents. Boeing, which apparently claims to have fixed the errors, is yet to get an approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority to fly the air craft.
Airbus taking the game away from Boeing
Boeing's crisis seems to be deepening with all its Boeing 737 Max grounded since March. Earlier last week Boeing said that it is expecting a clearance certificate from the Federal Aviation Authority by December. However, on Saturday the airplane maker said that the company will leave it to the US Federal Aviation Administration to decide the timing of the return of Boeing 737 Max to service.
This announcement from Boeing came after reports that the US Federal Aviation Administration head Steve Dickson has asked his team to "take whatever time required" to review Boeing's 737 Max. The grounding of 737 Max has also seen airline cancelling its flights, resulting in huge losses. This has also seen many airline companies initiate talks with Boeing for compensations. However, Boeing's trouble doesn't seem to end there.
Many airline companies across the world have been also grounding scores of Boeing 737 Next-Generation aircraft as they continue to find cracks in the bodies of the aircraft.
This has seen Airbus, Boeing's biggest rival, taking the game away. Airbus earlier this month said that it has sold a whopping 415 aircraft in October, taking its total tally to 718 for the year. Also, Ethiopian Airlines is planning to add more Airbus A350 to its fleet. Airbus A350 is a rival to Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Ethiopian Airlines' decision is a clear indication that Boeing's loss has been Airbus' gain.
