Garuda reconsiders order of 49 MAX airplanes from Boeing

GARUDA INDONESIA - JAKARTA. Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has said that it may cancel its order of 49 Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes, following an Ethiopian Airline crash on Sunday that was the second deadly incident in five months involving a MAX jet.

The crash triggered a widespread grounding of the model.

“We haven’t looked that way yet, but there is the possibility that we may cancel the plan,” Garuda Indonesia president director Ari Askhara said as quoted by tribunnews.com when visiting the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The airline had reportedly ordered 49 MAX aircraft, which were scheduled to be delivered from 2021 to 2030.

Garuda currently operates one Boeing 737 MAX 8, but the plane has been grounded along with 10 MAX jets owned by Lion Air Group, as per the government’s instructions. Dozens of countries, including the United States, have made a similar move.

Previously, Lion Air Group decided to postpone the delivery of four more Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes. The airline also lost its plane and several crew members last year when flight JT 610 crashed into the Java Sea on Oct. 28, killing everyone on board.

Meanwhile, from Washington, Boeing has reportedly decided to delay the delivery of 737 MAX planes to a number of countries.