The emergency landing of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 flight won’t do anything to help nervous flyers.
Here are the carriers most exposed to the
Boeing
737 MAX 9 aircraft.
Alaska Air,
which also owns the regional carrier Horizon Air, operates 65 MAX 9 aircraft. That is more than 20% of the company’s fleet of 314 planes. It is the U.S. airline most dependent on MAX 9 jets.
United Airlines
is the largest operator by number, with 79 MAX 9 aircraft, TD Cowen analysts noted, citing Cirium data. However, United’s fleet is around three times the size, so the aircraft accounts for 8% of the total. United on Monday said it found four instances of installation issues on its jets after inspections.
The other major U.S. airlines don’t operate any MAX 9 aircraft.
Copa Airlines, the national carrier of Panama, operates 29 MAX 9 jets. Aeromexico has 19 in service;
Turkish Airlines
operates five; and
Icelandair
has four.
The impact on airlines that operate MAX 9 jets is uncertain for now. The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered a temporary grounding and said inspections of certain planes must be carried out before they can return to the skies.
That is a far cry from the global grounding of Boeing 737 MAX jets in 2019 following two fatal crashes.
Still, the temporary grounding will hit Alaska, United, and Copa. United canceled 260 flights, or 9% of its schedule, on Sunday, and had canceled 204, or 7% of its Monday flights, as of 7.30 a.m Eastern. Alaska Airlines canceled 165 flights, or 21%, on Sunday, and another 139 flights, or 20% of its schedule, early Monday. Copa Airlines canceled 14% of its flights Sunday, and 21% so far Monday.
TD Cowen analyst Helane Becker said she expects the trio to have estimates of the effect on their financial performance by the time they report fourth-quarter earnings in the coming weeks. Certain factors will limit the impact, she said.
“January is generally a relatively slow month for the industry, and the fact this happened after the holidays is annoying but less impactful,” she said. Becker also noted that this quarter has an extra day of travel due to the leap year, which should boost earnings.
J.P. Morgan analyst Guilherme Mendes said he expected the problems to be short-lived. He said Copa remains as his top pick among Latin American airlines. He rates the stock Overweight.
Mendes noted that most carriers believe the required inspections will be completed in the coming days, allowing the grounded MAX 9s to return to operation.
Write to Callum Keown at [email protected]
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