Boeing Co. posted two firm orders for a total of 30 737 MAX aircraft during November, orders that could be worth $3.9 billion according to the listed value for those jets. It is the first significant increase in demand for Boeing's best-selling aircraft since the program was idled in March, following the second of two deadly accidents.
The new orders were posted with no indication of the airline customers.
For the current year-to-date, Boeing has posted new orders for 68 737 MAX aircraft, along with a net loss of 73 orders.
A total of 346 passengers and crew members were killed in two 737 MAX 9 crashes, one involving Indonesia’s Lion Air in October 2018 and a second for Ethiopian Airways in March 2019.Boeing halted deliveries of the 737 series and reduced the production rate to 42 jets/month. Most of its production is concentrated on the 737 MAX (it has an order backlog of more than 4,600 of the 737 MAX) though it continues to produce the previous 737 Next Generation version, too.
Boeing expects to resume deliveries of the aircraft in Q1 of 2020, pending the approval of its revised MCAS flight-control software by the Federal Aviation Administration and European Air Safety Administration. An EASA official said in November that the agency is on track to approve the aircraft to resume commercial service in January, but that individual EU nations’ civil aviation authorities as well as the airline operators may require more time to implement the aircraft's return to service.
