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United Airlines’ leadership has a nagging worry that while Airbus and Boeing can enthusiastically take orders for hundreds and hundreds of airplanes, actually delivering those same airplanes on a predictable schedule will be harder to achieve.
United’s chief financial officer Gerry Laderman said in an interview with The Air Current last week that the grounding and delivery halts on the 737 Max and 787 are in its rear view mirror. “The issue for us on [the 737] fleet is really [Boeing’s] ability to deal with supply chain. Airbus has similar problems. And so we’re monitoring closely what’s going to happen next year when they are trying to ramp up.
Related: United mega-deal sets carrier on a three-decade journey of constrained expansion
“Because our bigger concern is not about the Max flying but about getting all the aircraft in a timely manner. And the same thing is true for the 787,” he added.
As part of its sweeping 100 787 deal with Boeing, United is adding 100 more 737 Max aircraft, exercising 44 options and adding another 56 that arrive in 2027 and 2028. That’s on top of the approximately 342 Max orders it has accumulated since it first ordered the re-engined type in 2012, according to ch-aviation.
All told, the airline has nearly 700 single and twin-aisle aircraft coming from both manufacturers over the next 10 years.
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