Southwest – Has Boeing Screwed its Best Customer?

Boeing announced that it will not be seeking an exemption for a known safety issue on the 737 MAX 7. Instead, Boeing plans to certify the aircraft with a permanent fix. That fix, however, is planned to be completed in 2026. Southwest eliminated the MAX 7 from its 2024 plans, and may need to push the aircraft out further into 2026, when Boeing had planned the fix that must be retrofit to the entire MAX fleet.

Interestingly, Boeing has not indicated the fate for the proposed 737 MAX 10 waiver, for which a request will apparently continue to go forward. It will certainly be interesting to see whether Boeing’s Washington lobby can defeat Congressional critics in approving an exemption . While there is a possibility that Boeing may pull back that exemption as well, we would have expected both the pulled simultaneously.

The MAX 10 has more orders than the MAX 7, with a higher price and margin, so it contributes more to Boeing’s cash flow. While we hope Congress does the right thing and fails to grant another exemption for Boeing, we believe the old adage applies here: “if pro is the opposite of con, progress is the opposite of Congress.”

Southwest is Curbing Growth Plans