JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Many airlines around the world, including Indonesian carriers, are reviewing their orders for Boeing 737 MAX 8 following two crashes involving the aircraft that occurred in the last five months.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday revealed that new evidence and satellite data indicated that the flight path of the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft indicated similarities with the flight path of the Lion Air aircraft that crashed last October.
Accordingly, the FAA had ordered “the temporary grounding” of all Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 aircraft.
More than 40 countries have banned the aircraft from operating, including the US, where Boeing is based, and the figure continues to grow. It is unknown how long the ban will last.
Garuda Indonesia managing director I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra said in Jakarta on Thursday that the state-owned airline would renegotiate its purchase of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, which has been banned from Indonesian skies.
Garuda initially planned to order 49 of the MAX 8 in 2021-2030. "We plan to renegotiate with Boeing. We had reduced our order to only 20 aircraft before the two accidents [in Indonesia and Ethiopia]. It has now changed [following the accidents and ban], so yes, we will change accordingly,” said Askhara.
Separately, Lion Air Group managing director Daniel Putut said the low-cost carrier would communicate immediately with Boeing management. By Thursday, Lion Air had not yet made any decisions on its order for 222 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
Crisis
Boeing is facing its worst crisis in recent years following the cancellations of orders for the 737 MAX series. Bloomberg reported that Boeing could potentially suffer US$600 billion (Rp 8.5 quadrillion) in losses due to the canceled orders.
In addition to Garuda and Lion Air, several other airlines like Vietjet Aviation JSC and Kenya Airways may also cancel their orders for the 737 MAX. Norwegian Airlines said it would sue Boeing for losses it had incurred due to the flight ban.
Amid international and domestic pressures, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced the temporary ban on all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, following the steps taken by Canada. Brazil, Mexico, Japan and most recently, Russia, had made similar decisions.
"The planes are temporarily banned from flying," said Trump.
On Thursday, France’s Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) at Le Bourget received the “black boxes” of Ethiopian Airlines ET302, which crashed near Addis Ababa on Sunday. BEA investigators will retrieve data from the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, which were reported as “damaged”. (AP/AFP/REUTERS/APO/ARN/BEN)