MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. The Russian air carrier Utair has not received any notice from Boeing so far concerning postponement of the delivery time for Boeing 737 MAX 8 passenger jets, Chief Executive Officer of the company Andrei Martirosov told TASS.
Utair ordered 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes last year.
"We are waiting for deliveries," Martirosov said. "As far as our deliveries are concerned, we have not received any notices about postponement of supplies from Boeing, from leasing companies. However, I think the situation is developing rapidly. New information comes every hour. Probably, some changes will take place," the top manager said.
Delivery of the first aircraft for Utair was expected to take place in April, he added.
The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency has banned all Boeing 737 MAX flights in Russian airspace until further notice, the agency’s head Alexander Neradko told reporters earlier today.
The ban is indefinite and will remain in place until the agency makes a new decision on the matter. According to Neradko, further decisions will be based on the assessment of the directives and reports coming from the US Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Boeing Company.
On March 10, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8, en route from Addis Ababa to Kenya’s Nairobi, crashed near the Ethiopian town of Bishoftu. The crash killed 157, including three Russians. Following the Ethiopian Airlines crash, many countries, including Russia, the United States and European Union members, grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for safety reasons.
Meanwhile, the Boeing Company said in a statement that it continued "to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX" but supported the suspension of flights.