Indonesia’s Garuda to cancel order of 49 Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia
- “Garuda passengers in Indonesia have lost trust” in the plane, said a spokesman
- The national airline, which had already received one jet from the 50-aircraft order in a US$4.9 billion deal, was deciding whether to return the jet
“We have sent a letter to Boeing requesting that the order be cancelled,” Garuda spokesman Ikhsan Rosan saidon Friday. “The reason is that Garuda passengers in Indonesia have lost trust and no longer have confidence” in the plane, he said.
The national airline had already received one of the planes, he said, part of a 50-aircraft order worth US$4.9 billion at list prices when it was announced in 2014. Garuda was in discussions with Boeing about whether to return the plane, the spokesman said.
The carrier had so far paid Boeing about US$26 million, while the company’s head told Indonesian media outlet Detik it would consider switching to a new version of the single-aisle jet.
“In principle, it’s not that we want to replace Boeing, but maybe we will replace [these planes] with another model,” Garuda Indonesia director I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra said.
