Boeing 737 MAX airplanes are seen parked at a Boeing facility on August 13, 2019 in Renton, Washington.
David Ryder | Getty Photographs
Southwest Airways mentioned Tuesday that it should trim its capability plans and reevaluate its monetary forecasts for the yr, citing supply delays from Boeing, its sole provider of airplanes.
The Dallas-based airline mentioned Boeing knowledgeable Southwest’s leaders that it ought to anticipate 46 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes this yr, down from 58. Southwest had anticipated Boeing to ship 79 Max planes, together with a number of the smallest mannequin, the Max 7, which hasn’t but gained certification from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Due to the delays, Southwest mentioned in a submitting that it’s “reevaluating all prior full yr 2024 steering, together with the expectation for capital spending.”
Southwest’s statements, forward of a JPMorgan trade convention on Tuesday, are the most recent signal of how Boeing’s high quality management disaster and manufacturing issues — each earlier than and after a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airways flight in January — are weighing on a few of its greatest clients.
Final week, United instructed employees that it must pause pilot hiring this spring due to late-arriving plane from Boeing, CNBC reported.
Southwest shares have been down greater than 5% in premarket buying and selling. The airline mentioned leisure bookings within the first quarter have been weaker than anticipated and forecast unit income to be flat to up not more than 2% in contrast with a yr earlier, down from a January estimate of an increase of as a lot as 4.5%.
Boeing did not instantly reply to a request for remark.