TURBULENT TIMES

Indonesia’s Garuda Airline Cancels $6B Boeing 737 Max Order

First carrier to publicly confirm plans to call off purchase, ditching 49 new planes.

Indonesia’s national airline Garuda has canceled a huge $6 billion order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets because it believes customers have lost confidence in the aircraft. It’s the first airline to publicly confirm its plans to cancel an order for the troubled jets following two crashes, in Indonesia and Ethiopia, that left hundreds dead and led to the grounding of the planes around the world. Garuda’s decision comes less than two weeks after an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed en route to Nairobi from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people onboard. In October, a Lion Air flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 passengers and crew. Ikhsan Rosan, a Garuda spokesman, told The Washington Post the decision to cancel the orders was due to “consumers’ low confidence” in the planes after the crashes. Airline officials informed Boeing of its decision by letter and are scheduled to meet with company representatives on March 28 to discuss the cancellation. “The discussion won’t be easy,” said Rosan.

DANGEROUS WAIT

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