Boeing is reportedly in talks with Indian affordable flights SpiceJet Ltd. for a potential deal that could see more sales of the troubled 737 Max jets. No set number of aircraft has been decided yet at this point.
According to Bloomberg, SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh said on Monday that if the deal pushes through, the company will have a shot at purchasing aircraft at a lower-than-usual cost due to the apparent weakening in Boeing 737 Max sales.
Singh clarified that while discussions have started, there is no official number of jets on the deal yet. On the other hand, industry analysts see the potential deal as a ray of hope at a time when the troubled planes remain grounded worldwide.
For Singh, the Boeing 737 Max could be recertified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before the year-end 2019. He further predicted that after the FAA moves to recertify the grounded fleets, other global regulators will most likely follow suit.
The SpiceJet deal follows Boeing's big catch in June when the American jet maker announced that British Airways will purchase 200 737 Max aircraft. The agreement came at a crucial time as European rival Airbus also ramped up deals with global carriers.
While India's SpiceJet appears to be ecstatic over the deal, Ethiopian Airlines is still unsure whether it should trust the jet that caused a tragic crash in March. Before this year's incident, another 737 Max plane also crashed off the coast of Indonesia five months earlier.
During the Dubai Airshow this week, Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam clarified that getting back the grounded jets on the air "is still work in progress." He said all tests should be completed first before the airliner can comment on purchasing additional 737 Max planes, Reuters reported.
Boeing has been working hard at getting its grounded planes recertified worldwide. The U.S. aircraft giant integrated changes to its software system that has been linked to the two tragedies.
Industry experts and flight passengers alike have expressed concerns about the safety measures that Boeing takes during the manufacturing process of its planes. A mother of one of the victims in the Ethiopian Airlines crash has also called on Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to step down from his post.
Muilenburg has publicly apologized for the two crashes and also appeared before U.S. lawmakers late last month to testify about the issue. Some believe his testimony may have come too late as the FAA is also being pressured to layout stricter safety regulations before the 737 Max is recertified.
