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New Virgin Australia CEO hits pause
May 3rd 2019
737 MAX 8 postponed to save capex, but some orders up-gauged to MAX 10. Read More »
New Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah has made his first major decision by restructuring the airline’s 737 MAX order. Virgin was due to receive MAXs from Nov 2019 but will now receive them from July 2021.
Virgin originally intended to receive MAX 8s before MAX 10s. But Virgin has postponed the MAX 8s until Feb 2025 while slightly bringing forward the delivery of MAX 10s from Jan 2022 to July 2021. Virgin said only it was saving “significant” capital expenditure.
Virgin’s MAX order dates back to 2012, a seemingly early purchase. The orderbook has seen multiple changes, with the MAX order coinciding with delaying deliveries of 737 NGs, some of which were later converted to MAXs. Delivery dates for the MAX were brought forward but then pushed back.
Virgin had flagged interest in delaying capital expenditure spending, but some parts of the public saw the announced change as intertwined with the 737’s current problems.
