Boeing Suffers Another Setback, Loses $5.9bn Order

• Boeing Suffers Another Setback, Loses $5.9bn Order

Flyadeal, a Saudi Arabian low-cost carrier, has cancelled the 50 Boeing 737 Max jets it ordered in December following crashes that killed hundreds of people.

In December Boeing signed a $5.9 billion deal with Flyadeal to deliver 50 737 Max jets.

But on Sunday the Saudi Arabian airline informed the US aircraft manufacturer that it had ordered 30 A320neo aircraft from Airbus, Boeing’s European rival, with options for additional 20 of the jets.

The low-cost airline said the order would “result in Flyadeal operating an all-Airbus A320 fleet in the future”.

The announcement came after Europe’s aviation safety regulator presented Boeing with a list of outstanding issues the US aircraft maker must resolve before it would allow 737 Max into the skies.

In a statement released shortly after Flydeal news became public, Boeing said it wishes “the Flyadeal team well as it builds out its operations”, adding that its workforce “continues to focus on safely returning the 737 Max to service and resuming deliveries of Max aeroplanes”

Regulators across the world started grounding Boeing 737 Max after two 737 Max crashed and killed 345 people.