Norwegian Air cancels order of 97 Boeing aircraft, including scores of 737 Max
Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle said Tuesday that it has canceled its 97 outstanding orders for planes from Boeing.
Norwegian, which like many airlines has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, said in a statement that it had terminated the purchase agreements of five of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners and 92 of the manufacturer’s 737 Max aircraft.
The Oslo-based airline said it had filed a legal claim seeking the return of payments made for the aircraft. It is also seeking compensation for losses it says it incurred from the global grounding of the 737 Max planes as well as engine issues on the 787.
Talks with Boeing have “not led to an agreement with a reasonable compensation,” the carrier said in the statement.
The 737 MAX has been grounded around the world since March 12, 2019, following deadly crashes involving the plane model.
The test flights are critical to ending the worldwide grounding of the aircraft imposed in March 2019 after two accidents killed 346 people.
Norwegian Air had technical issues with the Rolls Royce engines on the Dreamliner planes. The British company had discovered problems with its Trent 1000 engines, which power Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Norwegian said the problems “affected reliability and resulted in premature and unplanned maintenance, which has disrupted the company’s operations and caused further significant losses.”
