Boeing in massive aircraft order

Jakarta-based Lion Air announced last week one of the largest ever orders in the history of civil aviation.  The airline plans to take 201 of the new 737 MAXs and 29 Next-Generation 737-900ERs worth US$21.7bn.  The deal includes the purchase rights for an additional 150 aircraft.

Lion Air was established in 2000 and is privately owned by Rusdi Kirana and family.  Along with many other Indonesian carriers, Lion Air (including its Wings Air subsidiary) is on the list of air carriers banned in the European Union due to safety concerns as of June 2011.  It currently has a fleet of around 70 aircraft which should be all Boeing 737 series by the year's end except for a pair of high density Boeing 747-400s, used on the Jeddah pilgrim routes.  The airline has applied for membership of IATA but that will not be pursued until the safety problem is sorted out. 

No dates for delivery have been given but presumably the 900s will follow on under the present order for the new MAX aircraft sometime from 2017 powered by the CFM LEAP engine. www.boeing.com/commercial www2.lionair.co.id

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum