Lion Air (JT, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) has threatened to cancel its outstanding order for 188 Boeing B737 MAX Family aircraft over what the Indonesian LCC said was unfair treatment in the wake of October 29 crash near Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta, Bloomberg has reported.
"I feel betrayed. I'm preparing documents to propose cancellations. Everything is still under consideration now," co-founder Rusdi Kirana said.
Kirana did not disclose why exactly he felt Lion Air was mistreated by the American manufacturer. After the crash in October, the first ever hull loss of a B737-8, it surfaced that Boeing did not inform its customers nor included information about the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) in its manuals, a system devised to assist in keeping the aircraft stable but which can also confuse pilots and cause unprompted pitch variations.
The crash also put in doubt safety oversight procedures at Lion Air.
"Ethically, nobody should give their opinion to the preliminary report. I'm one of their biggest buyers. Right now we are in a difficult situation. As a partner, they should have helped, not give a negative impression on us," Kirana said of Boeing.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the Indonesian LCC currently has 137 B737-8s, one B737-9, and fifty B737-10s on order with Boeing, in addition to one B737-800 and two B737-900(ER)s. It already operates ten B737-8s while its subsidiary Thai Lion Air (SL, Bangkok Don Mueang) operates three -9s.
Lion Air Group is the world's fourth-largest B737 MAX customer behind Southwest Airlines, flydubai, and Jet Airways.
