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Exclusive: Lion Air ponders canceling Boeing jets in row over crash - sources
PARIS/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia’s Lion Air is reviewing airplane
purchases from Boeing Co and has not ruled out canceling orders as relations
worsen in a spat over responsibility for a 737 jetliner crash that killed 189
people in late October.
FILE PHOTO - A Boeing 737 MAX 8 sits outside the hangar during a media tour
of the Boeing 737 MAX at the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington December 8,
2015. REUTERS/Matt Mills McKnight/File Photo
Co-founder Rusdi Kirana is furious over what he regards as attempts by Boeing
to deflect attention from recent design changes and blame Lion Air for the
crash, while the airline faces scrutiny over its maintenance record and pilots
’ actions.
Kirana is examining the possibility of canceling remaining orders of Boeing
jets “from the next delivery,” according to a person familiar with his
thinking. Another source close to the airline said it was looking at
canceling orders.
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No final decision has been made, but discussion over the fate of $22 billion
of remaining orders highlights the stakes surrounding an investigation
involving Boeing’s fastest-ever selling jet, the 737 MAX, which entered
service last year.
Lion Air has 190 Boeing jets worth $22 billion at list prices waiting to be
delivered, on top of 197 already taken, making it one of the largest U.S.
export customers.
Any request to cancel could be designed to put pressure on Boeing and would
likely trigger extensive negotiations. Many airlines defer orders, but
industry sources say aerospace suppliers rarely allow much scope for
unilateral cancellations.
Lion Air declined to comment. A Boeing spokesman said: “We are taking every
measure to fully understand all aspects of this accident, and are working
closely with the investigating team and all regulatory authorities involved.
We are also supporting our valued customer through this very tough time.”
MAINTENANCE, SOFTWARE
Kirana, who is now Indonesia’s envoy to Malaysia but still carries weight at
the airline he co-founded with his brother in 2000, ordered the review in
response to a Boeing statement focusing attention on piloting and
maintenance, the person said.
Boeing released the statement after investigators last week issued an interim
report focusing on maintenance actions spread over four flights in the run-up
to the doomed flight on Oct. 29.
Slideshow (2 Images)
Boeing is also examining software changes in the wake of the crash, while
insisting longstanding procedures exist for pilots to cancel automated
nose-down movements experienced by the 737 MAX in response to erroneous
sensor readings.
It has come under fire from U.S. pilots for not mentioning the MCAS system -
a modification of existing anti-stall systems - in the manual for the 737
MAX, which began service last year.
“Why are they changing (software) if there was nothing wrong?” the person
familiar with Kirana’s thinking said.
Boeing has said all information needed to fly the 737 safely is available to
pilots and that its workhorse model is safe.
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Some financial sources say Lion Air and southeast Asian rivals over-expanded
and would be comfortable with fewer orders.
But the row highlights an unusually polarized dispute over the causes of the
crash. Experts say most accidents are caused by a cocktail of factors and
parties rarely comment in detail before the final report, which often follows
a year of analysis.
In its statement, Boeing recapped the interim report and listed questions on
maintenance and pilot behavior that it said remained unanswered in the
78-page document, but did not mention the MCAS modification covered in an
earlier safety bulletin.
It is not the first time an airline has crossed swords with its supplier
after a crash. Lion Air’s rival AirAsia clashed with Airbus after its
Indonesian subsidiary lost an A320 in 2014. It continued to take deliveries,
but relations never fully recovered and it later toyed with buying 787s from
Boeing.
獅航因為這次的空難考慮取消737MAX的訂單
獅航的737MAX訂單共201架