Boeing (BOE, Washington National) has warned its customers that B737 MAX deliveries in 2024 and 2025 will likely be delayed by a further three to six months, with some aircraft planned for 2025 slipping into 2026, Bloomberg reported citing internal sources.
The manufacturer did not comment on the report but it is due to publish its quarterly results, which could shed more light on current delivery forecasts, on July 31.
Norwegian Group, an important MAX customer with an order for fifty B737-8s with 30 options, and more aircraft sourced through lessors, revealed in its quarterly report on July 12 that deliveries have been delayed by 8-11 months compared to the original plan. The carrier said it had been "partially compensated for the incurred delay cost" but admitted the delays were impacting its operations. The in-house fleet of Norwegian Air Shuttle AOC and Norwegian Air Sweden AOC for this summer includes eighty-six B737s (sixty-four B737-800s and twenty-two B737-8s), down by one from the forecasted 87 aircraft.
While Norwegian maintains a capacity growth target of 12% in 2024, it has been forced to look for more third-party capacity to offset the delays. It currently wet-leases two A320-200s from DAT (R6, Kaunas International), the ch-aviation fleets module shows. Norwegian revealed that it had paid NOK34 million Norwegian kroner (USD3.2 million) for ACMI contracts to counter delivery delays in the second quarter of 2024.
"Growth for 2025 is expected to slow compared to 2024 due to aircraft delivery delays from Boeing. For the summer of 2025, the Norwegian fleet is forecasted to increase to above 90 aircraft," the holding said, adding that it was evaluating opportunities to extend the leases of its current B737-800s for 2025 and 2026.
Norwegian currently expects its B737 MAX deliveries between 2025 and 2028. The options, which can be converted to B737-10s, are slotted for deliveries between 2028 and 2030.
