Boeing sees no delays to plane deliveries to India because of MAX 9 issues

Hyderabad: Boeing expects no meaningful delays of plane deliveries to India because of the MAX 9 issues even as it intensifies quality scrutiny of its 737 jets production programme, a top company executive said on Friday.

The planemaker will also focus on the quality of aircraft over numbers in India, Darren Hulst, Boeing's vice president for commercial marketing, said at the "Wings India" air show in the southern city of Hyderabad.

A cabin panel on one of Boeing's 737 MAX 9 jets blew out shortly after the Alaska Airlines plane took off from Portland, Oregon this month following which the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily grounded 171 aircraft for safety checks.

While Hulst says he does not see any meaningful delays in deliveries as of now, he did not provide clarity on any potential delays in the long term.

Indian commercial airlines have not ordered the MAX 9 variant of the Boeing 737. India's Akasa Air has ordered 226 Boeing 737 planes, including the MAX 10 and MAX 8-200 versions. Similarly, Air India has 220 planes on order from Boeing, including 190 MAX jets.

Boeing has named Kirkland H. Donald as the independent adviser to lead a comprehensive

quality review

of its quality management system for commercial airplanes. (Reporting by Rishika Sadam and Aditi Shah; Writing by Bansari Mayur Kamdar; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Raju Gopalakrishnan)