Lion Air and Boeing are heading into a $22b feud
The crash of a Boeing plane that killed 189 people in Indonesia is spiraling into a $22b feud between the aircraft maker and one of Asia’s most influential aviation bosses. In a rare public dispute between the planemaker and one of its biggest customers, the head of Lion Mentari Airlines has threatened to cancel an order for billions of dollars worth of jets because of what he says is Boeing’s unfair reaction to the crash. The man standing up to the US aviation giant is Rusdi Kirana, Lion Air’s owner, and while he was little known to the public outside Southeast Asia before the crash, he’s something of a legend in the industry. Eighteen years after he and his brother rented a Boeing 737-200 to start a service from Jakarta to Bali, Kirana, 55, has turned Lion Air into Indonesia’s largest airline, with one of the biggest order books in the world. “He is, by virtue of the significance of Indonesia, right now probably the most important aviation figure in Southeast Asia,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consultancy Endau Analytics in Kuala Lumpur. Kirana’s undiminished appetite for expansion -- he wants to start flights to destinations as far a field as London and Dubai -- has made him a key customer for both Boeing and Airbus. Lion Air is the third-largest buyer of Boeing’s updated 737. But seven weeks after a two-month-old 737 Max jet operated by the carrier plunged into waters off Jakarta, Kirana has started a public spat with the planemaker. Lion Air is drafting documents to scrap its $22b dollars of orders with Boeing because, Kirana says, the manufacturer unfairly implicated his airline in the disaster. “I was in a tough situation and they decided to beat me up,” Kirana said in Jakarta, referring to Boeing’s response to Indonesia’s preliminary report into the accident. “They have been behaving unethically, they have been acting immorally in this relationship, so we just go our separate ways.” Boeing wouldn’t comment on the discussions with Kirana, but said in a statement that “Lion Air is a valued customer and we are supporting them through this difficult time.” <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2018-12-17/unaligned/lion-air-and-boeing-are-heading-into-a-22b-feud
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Lion Air and Boeing are heading into a $22b feud
The crash of a Boeing plane that killed 189 people in Indonesia is spiraling into a $22b feud between the aircraft maker and one of Asia’s most influential aviation bosses. In a rare public dispute between the planemaker and one of its biggest customers, the head of Lion Mentari Airlines has threatened to cancel an order for billions of dollars worth of jets because of what he says is Boeing’s unfair reaction to the crash. The man standing up to the US aviation giant is Rusdi Kirana, Lion Air’s owner, and while he was little known to the public outside Southeast Asia before the crash, he’s something of a legend in the industry. Eighteen years after he and his brother rented a Boeing 737-200 to start a service from Jakarta to Bali, Kirana, 55, has turned Lion Air into Indonesia’s largest airline, with one of the biggest order books in the world. “He is, by virtue of the significance of Indonesia, right now probably the most important aviation figure in Southeast Asia,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consultancy Endau Analytics in Kuala Lumpur. Kirana’s undiminished appetite for expansion -- he wants to start flights to destinations as far a field as London and Dubai -- has made him a key customer for both Boeing and Airbus. Lion Air is the third-largest buyer of Boeing’s updated 737. But seven weeks after a two-month-old 737 Max jet operated by the carrier plunged into waters off Jakarta, Kirana has started a public spat with the planemaker. Lion Air is drafting documents to scrap its $22b dollars of orders with Boeing because, Kirana says, the manufacturer unfairly implicated his airline in the disaster. “I was in a tough situation and they decided to beat me up,” Kirana said in Jakarta, referring to Boeing’s response to Indonesia’s preliminary report into the accident. “They have been behaving unethically, they have been acting immorally in this relationship, so we just go our separate ways.” Boeing wouldn’t comment on the discussions with Kirana, but said in a statement that “Lion Air is a valued customer and we are supporting them through this difficult time.” <br/>
