Boeing said that it is “humbled” after receiving the first orders for its troubled 737 MAX aircraft since November.
On Wednesday, the aerospace manufacturer announced that Polish charter airline Enter Air has agreed to purchase two 737-8 jets with the option to buy two more. The airline also reached a settlement with Boeing to address the impact of the 737 MAX’s prolonged grounding.
The beleaguered aircraft has been grounded since March 2019 due to software issues implicated in two fatal crashes that killed a combined 346 people in the span of five months.
“We are humbled by Enter Air’s commitment to the Boeing 737 family. Their order for additional 737-8s underscores their confidence in the airplane and the men and women of Boeing,” said Ihssane Mounir, Boeing’s senior vice president of commercial sales and marketing. “We look forward to building on our decade-long partnership with Enter Air and working with the airline to safely return their full 737 fleet to commercial service.”
Enter Air’s current fleet includes 22 next-gen 737s and a pair of 737 MAX planes.
“Despite the current crisis, it is important to think about the future. To that end, we have agreed to order additional 737-8 aircraft. Following the rigorous checks that the 737 MAX is undergoing, I am convinced it will be the best aircraft in the world for many years to come,” said Enter Air general director and board member Grzegorz Polaniecki.
“In the settlement with Boeing, we agreed to revise the delivery schedule for the previously-ordered airplanes in response to current market conditions,” Polaniecki added. “The specific terms of the settlement are strictly confidential, but we are pleased with the way Boeing has treated us as its customer.”
Boeing said that the compensation will be provided in a number of different forms and staggered over an unspecified period of time.
