Flydubai, the airline that is the second-largest customer for Boeing's crashed 737 Max aircraft, is warning that its operations will be set back five years unless the grounding of the model is lifted soon, Bloomberg News reports.
The Boeing 737 Max was grounded globally in March this year after two deadly crashes in a short period of time. Since then, the UAE-based airline Flydubai has gone from a rapid expansion phase to a severely downsized operation and growing losses, according to CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith.
”With no new aircraft deliveries and no visibility on the timetable, our operational fleet will shrink to the same size as in 2014,” said the CEO of Flydubai, which is a sister company to the larger Emirates. Flydubai reported a loss of 197 million dirhams, equivalent to 530 million kronor, for the first six months of the year.
Flydubai had to ground 14 of the model when the flight ban was imposed. In addition, the company has placed an order for a further 251 737 Max planes. Now Flydubai is seeking financial compensation from Boeing, while the airline has announced that it is considering withdrawing the order and buying Boeing rival Airbus' A320neo model instead.
Source: Nyhetsbyrån Direkt
