Virgin Australia confirms B737MAX delivery delays

Boeing has told Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) that deliveries of B737-8s and B737-10s planned for this year and next will not occur due to production delays. As reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, the airline advised employees of the delays on March 15, 2024.

Virgin Australia has ten B737-8s on order, with most due to be delivered this year. The airline also has twenty-five B737-10s due from 2025. In January, the carrier was saying this timeline was intact. Now, it says Boeing has told it to expect just four B737-8s this year, the remainder next year, and no B737-10s before the start of the 2026 financial year.

"We have been advised by Boeing there will be a delay to the delivery of some B737-8 aircraft, and we are working to minimise impacts to our schedule,” a Virgin Australia spokesperson said.

"We are squarely focused on implementing changes to strengthen quality across our production system and taking the necessary time to deliver high-quality airplanes that meet all regulatory requirements," a Boeing spokesperson told ch-aviation. "We continue to stay in close contact with our valued customers about these issues and our actions to address them."

Virgin Australia already has four B737-8s, primarily used on the Cairns - Tokyo Haneda city pair, but also on select domestic and short-haul international routes. The B737 MAX are the headline component in a fleet renewal and expansion strategy that will see the carrier exit some of its older B737-800s and B737-700s while also allowing it to open new routes and increase capacity on existing routes.

According to ch-aviation fleets data, Virgin Australia operates 85 aircraft, including the four B737-8s, nine B737-700s, sixty B737-800s, seven F100s wet-leased from Alliance Airlines (QQ, Brisbane International), and five Saab 340B(Plus) types wet-leased from Link Airways (FC, Canberra). Subsidiary carrier Virgin Australia Regional (VA, Perth International), which primarily operates closed charter flights in Western Australia, has seven A320-200s and six F100s in its fleet.