Boeing’s latest Max crisis is forcing some of its biggest customers to rethink their growth plans this year — and possibly beyond, several airline CEOs said Tuesday. Their comments highlight how Boeing’s top buyers have felt the effects of its problems: snowballing quality control issues, a slow increase of output and certification of new aircraft that is running years behind schedule. Southwest, which only flies Boeing 737s, trimmed its 2024 capacity forecast and said it was reevaluating its 2024 financial guidance, citing fewer Boeing deliveries than it previously expected this year: 46 Boeing 737 Max planes, down from 79. “Boeing needs to become a better company and the deliveries will follow that,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said at a JPMorgan industry conference Tuesday. Alaska Airlines said Tuesday that its 2024 capacity estimates are “in flux due to uncertainty around the timing of aircraft deliveries as a result of increased FAA and Department of Justice scrutiny on Boeing and its operations.” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said at the JPMorgan conference on Tuesday that the carrier has asked Boeing to stop building it Max 10 planes, an aircraft that hasn’t yet been certified by the FAA, and produce more Max 9s, which are flying already. “It’s impossible to say when the Max 10 is going to get certified,” Kirby said. In January, Kirby said the airline would build a fleet plan without the Max 10 because of the delays. The frustration from airline bosses has been building in recent months since Boeing’s latest crisis stemmed from a door panel that blew out midair from a Max 9 plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The accident ramped up scrutiny on Boeing, and a preliminary NTSB investigation said bolts on the door panel didn’t appear to be attached when the planes left the company’s factory in Washington state.<br/>
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United Airlines CE Scott Kirby acknowledges that the US carrier is considering a potential order of Airbus A321neos to replace previously ordered Boeing 737 Max 10s – certification of which remains in limbo. During the JP Morgan Industrials Conference on 12 March, Kirby said shifting to A321neos is possible – but only if “we get a deal where the economics work”. He says United is considering that option due to delays to the 737 Max 10’s certification, and Boeing’s related production and quality issues. “As much as I would like those deliveries, this is not a 12-month issue,” Kirby adds of Boeing. “This is a two-decade issue.” The carrier currently has six A321neos in service and 174 more on order, according to Cirium fleets data. It holds orders for nearly 350 737 Max, including hundreds of Max 10s. United’s deals with Boeing call for 80 737 Max 10 deliveries this year, 71 in 2025 and 126 in the following years through 2033. But with certification of the largest variant of Boeing’s next-generation narrowbodies likely pushed into 2025, United recently removed those jets from its fleet plan. <br/>
Lufthansa Group’s engineering unit Lufthansa Technik plans to invest E1.2b in the next four years to support its “Ambition 2030” strategic growth plan. The Hamburg-based MRO unit said on 12 March that after Lufthansa last November scrapped plans to divest a partial stake of the company, it is positioning itself to grow both organically, including building a new facility in Europe, as well as through possible acquisitions. As if to prove the company’s ability to go it alone, it posted record full-year earnings before interest and tax of E628m on revenue of E6.5b in 2023, 18% higher than the previous year. The figures are in line with pre-pandemic results, the company says. “We made the best possible use of the past year and made a comeback and found new strength after the debilitating years of the Covid crisis,” Soeren Stark, Lufthansa Technik’s CE says. “We want to continue to grow from this position. We still have big plans for Lufthansa Technik and with Ambition 2030 we have developed an ambitious plan that we are in the process of implementing.” Ambition 2030 plans for the company to almost double its revenue to more than E10b and profit to more than E1b by the end of this decade. To do that, Stark says the company will focus on its core business, expand its international presence through acquisitions and also expand its digital business models.<br/>