Delta hints at buying Boeing’s 737 MAX

(Reuters) – Delta Air Lines (NYSE 🙂 CEO Ed Bastian hinted at the possibility of buying Boeing (NYSE 🙂 Co’s 737 MAX, which was recently approved to fly again by US regulators, in a interview with the Financial Times on Sunday. .

“We are talking to Boeing about many different things, including the Max,” Delta’s chief executive told the Financial Times.

Any Boeing 737 MAX order would be a first for Delta, which did not have the plane in its fleet when the plane was grounded in March 2019 after two fatal accidents.

“If there is an opportunity where we feel comfortable acquiring the MAX, we would not hesitate to do so,” Bastian added.

Reuters reported in October that Delta is one of the airlines Boeing has approached to buy dozens of 737 MAX jets built for customers who have since scrapped their orders or gone out of business, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The United States lifted a 20-month flight ban on the Boeing 737 MAX on Wednesday, alleviating a safety crisis that left its top exporter with a tarnished reputation and hundreds of idle planes.

Bastian also cast doubt on the travel corridor between New York and London, calling it “complicated” and saying it would be easier to relaunch transatlantic flights to “almost any” other European capital.

Major airlines want the U.S. and British governments to launch a coronavirus testing test for passengers flying between London and New York to pave the way for resuming more international travel.