Kenya Airways may pull back from Boeing plan in favour of Airbus

Kenya Airways may change its early-stage plans to buy Boeing’s 737 Max jets after one of the planes crashed for the second time in five months, prompting airlines and regulators around the world to ground the aircraft. Sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest carrier could instead consider the larger 787 Dreamliner or acquire planes from rival Airbus, according to Chairman Michael Joseph. The carrier has yet to place firm orders for aircraft but has to expand the fleet to realize its growth strategy, he said. “The number of aircraft we need in this range is not yet determined,” Joseph said. “As no decision has been taken yet, we will carefully follow the developments around the 737 Max. Studies may also show that we could enlarge our 737-800 fleet and of course as a responsible buyer, we also look at the Airbus options.” A switch to Airbus could follow a similar move by Indonesia’s Lion Air, which plans to drop a $22b order for 737 Max jets in favour of planes made by Boeing’s arch rival, a person with knowledge of the proposal said earlier on Tuesday. <br/>