general

Boeing's CE said Tuesday that the financial fallout from the grounding of its 737 MAX jetliner would not slow the planemaker's appetite for deals in the higher-margin aircraft services sector. "Our ability to do those continues to be strong," CE Dennis Muilenburg said, referring to acquisitions it has made to enlarge its 2-year-old Global Services division. "We have the financial capacity to manage the MAX situation and continue to make our investments for the future," he said. The company is aiming to get the Max back in the air as soon as October. It has completed around 560 flights with the new software. "We still anticipate getting the return-to-service early in Q4," Muilenburg said. "We are making progress on that schedule." <br/>

A global shortage of pilots and mechanics is preventing some Canadian aviation service companies from meeting the needs of airlines and other customers scrambling to secure replacements for grounded Boeing 737 MAX jets. North American airlines have canceled thousands of flights since the March grounding of the 737 MAX. In an already busy industry, this has stoked demand for replacement aircraft, and several Canadian companies are eager to oblige. But the industry-wide labour shortage has complicated matters, companies said. "I have the planes but I don't have enough pilots to do all the flights," said Marco Prud'Homme, VP of Montreal-area Nolinor Aviation. The charter company has had to refuse some of the surging number of client requests in the wake of the MAX grounding because of the pilot shortage. <br/>