JAKARTA, Indonesia—Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said it is seeking to cancel an order for 49 Boeing Co. 737 MAX jets, saying passengers have lost confidence in the aircraft following two deadly crashes in recent months.
The move makes Garuda the first airline to publicly confirm plans to cancel a 737 MAX order. The 737 MAX jets were grounded by regulators world-wide this month in the wake of an Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 passengers and crew on board.
Garuda CEO I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra told The Wall Street Journal that the airline sent a letter to Kevin McAllister, head of Boeing’s BA, -0.92% commercial plane division, “to say that we want to cancel.”
The letter was sent March 14, company spokesman Ikhsan Rosan said, adding that Boeing representatives were planning to meet with Garuda in Jakarta on March 28 “for further discussion.”
An expanded version of this report can be found at WSJ.com
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