Boeing has secured a $10 billion (£7.8 billion) order for 737 Max jets, the first deal the US manufacturer has secured since the end of a seven-week strike.
Dublin-based aircraft leasing company Avia has struck a deal with Boeing for 80 planes, in a boost for the US company after weeks of turmoil.
Boeing is grappling with a workforce outage that crippled production and led to an estimated $10 billion in losses for the plane maker, its customers and suppliers, and the Seattle-area economy.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg was forced to agree to a 38% pay increase for 33,000 assembly line workers to end the dispute after two previous offers were voted down.
The purchase will also be seen as a vote of confidence in the Max, which was grounded earlier this year. It followed an investigation into the near-disastrous door panel blowout of an Alaska Airlines plane at 16,000 feet, which revealed a litany of quality control and safety problems.
Gediminas Žiemelis, chairman of Avia, said he was confident Boeing would recover from the crisis and that the 737 Max 8 model was the best option for his company. Customers include British Airways, holiday giant TUI and discounters Wizz and Jet2.
He said: “We are big believers in Boeing. The Max is a flexible aircraft that is suitable for operating all over the world.”
Deliveries from the deal, which consists of 40 firm orders plus 40 options worth approximately $10 billion at list prices, will begin in 2030. Mr Žiemelis said no other lessors will take the Max 8 around that time, “which is an advantage for us because we can offer these jets to our customers”.
Brad McMullen, Boeing’s senior vice president of commercial sales, said the deal reflected the enthusiasm of Avia’s airline customers for the Max, which competes with the Airbus A320neo in the short-haul aircraft market.
Still, the more than 6,400 orders that Boeing has secured for the Max fall far short of the nearly 11,000 that its European rival secured for the A320neo family.
For Avia, the world’s largest provider of seasonal airliners, the agreement represents its first-ever purchase of new aircraft as it meets growing airline demand.
Avia’s business model allows airlines in Britain and Europe to meet rising summer demand without being stuck with excess capacity when bookings decline in winter. It offers them an alternative to purchasing aircraft outright or leasing them under traditional long-term lease contracts.
The company, which transports more than 35 million passengers for customers every year – double the number transported by Jet2, for example – supplies aircraft on so-called wet leases, complete with crew, maintenance and insurance.
