Garuda cancels 49 Boeing 727, Max 8 Jets

Garuda Indonesia has scrapped its multi-billion –dollar order of 49 Boeing 727, Max 8, the first reported cancellation for the aircraft involved in the Ethiopian  Airlines, and Lion Air crashes.

Ikhsan Rosan of Garuda Indonesia revealed that it sent a letter to Boeing on March 14 asking to cancel its order of Boeing 737 Max 8 jets due to passengers’ loss of confidence in the aircraft, “ Passengers always ask when they make a reservation if it’s a Max or not. If it is, we need to book on another flight. Because of the low confidence in the Max by our passengers  we need to inform Boeing we have to cancel our order”.

Several other airlines are threatening to reassess their own Boeing orders in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash earlier this month, jeopardising the US company’s $600bn order book for 737 Max aircraft.

A dysfunction of Boeing’s new anti-stall feature MCAS was suspected of playing a role in the Lion Air 737 Max 8 crash off Indonesia last October which killed 189 people.