By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-02 08:36:22 | Updated at 2025-04-03 08:59:26
1 day ago
Air India’s windfall of 737 Max jets amid a broader shortage of new planes is coming to an end.
After adding two Boeing aircraft a month on average since September 2023 as the US manufacturer cleared a backlog of the jets it had originally built for Chinese carriers, the pool will run dry by June, people familiar with the matter said, leaving the Indian airline with little visibility around fresh deliveries in the months ahead.
Air India’s easy supply was thanks to a supply chain quirk. Boeing was able to divert 737 Max jets built for Chinese carriers, including Shanghai Airlines, as they deferred taking deliveries following regulatory concerns about the safety of a lithium battery in the planes’ cockpit voice recorders.
Having ordered 190 of the aircraft in June 2023, Air India’s low cost arm, Air India Express, has already taken possession of 41 of the 50 so-called whitetail planes – those built for others but still in storage. Another four are due this month and five between May and June.
Considering deliveries of the remaining 140 737 Max jets wouldn’t start before the end of the financial year ending March 2026, the Tata Group-owned Air India risks losing ground to market leader IndiGo, which has said that this year, it’s adding more than one aircraft a week.
Of the 41 whitetail aircraft Air India has received so far, 38 of them are in operations and three are being repainted, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential arrangements.
Boeing is separately working on ramping up the 737 production, as it targets 38 jets a month by mid-2025.
