Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) has delayed the delivery of its first B737 MAX given the uncertainties now surrounding the program. The carrier was due to have accepted its first B737-8 next month.
“We will not be able take this until we know exactly what the result of the investigation is and how long it will take the airplane to get airborne again,” chief executive Akbar al-Baker told Reuters on the sidelines of an event in Muscat.
al-Baker added that he had "full confidence in Boeing" in their ability to resolve the MAX's technical issues in the wake of the type's second crash in six months.
Qatar Airways has twenty B737 MAX 8s on order from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) of which the first five have been placed with its Air Italy (Milan Malpensa) subsidiary. Of those five, three have been delivered but have since been grounded. The other two - msn 64608 and 64609 - have yet to be handed over to the Italian carrier.
