Boeing orders bounce back on demand for a plane it can’t deliver yet

Boeing’s commercial jet orders bounced back in March, but it was due to a large order from American Airlines for a plane the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t even approved to carry passengers yet.

Boeing’s commercial jet orders bounced back in March, but it was due to a large order from American Airlines for a plane the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t even approved to carry passengers yet. American placed orders for 85 of the Boeing 737 Max 10, the largest version of that troubled aircraft. It also converted previous orders for 30 of the shorter Max 8 version of the plane, which is currently flying, into additional Max 10 orders. American also has options to buy another 75 Max 10s in the future. The order had been announced a month ago, and it was included in the March and first quarter sales and delivery report by Boeing on Tuesday. That report showed no other orders for any version of the 737 Max. Besides American’s large Max order, Boeing also received orders for 28 of its widebody 777 jets during the month. But certification of the Max 10, which had been due to start flying passengers by this year, has been pushed back in the wake of the January 5 Alaska Airlines flight of a 737 Max 9, which had a door plug blow out, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane. Questions about anti-icing equipment on the Max engines would have required Boeing to get a waiver from the FAA to get the Max 10 and a smaller Max 7 model certified. But criticism of Boeing’s safety and the quality controls in the wake of the Alaska Air incident prompted Boeing to withdrawal its request for a waiver, thus bringing the certification process to a temporary halt. The door plug incident prompted United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby to announce it was no longer counting on the 737 Max 10 planes it had already ordered from Boeing, saying the problem was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for the airline’s expectations for the plane. While it has yet to drop its orders for the Max 10, Kirby has said the airline is interested in possibly buying competing planes from Boeing rival Airbus. But it would likely be a much longer wait for United to get planes from Airbus due the backlog of orders the European aircraft maker has.