Kuwait's Alafco will take only 20 of its Boeing 737 MAX orders
Aircraft leasing company reaches deal with US company for a cut in its order size
Dubai: Kuwaiti aircraft leasing company Alafco will buy fewer aircraft from Boeing after reaching an agreement to end its legal claim over a cancelled 737 MAX order.
Alafco was suing the US planemaker for $336 million over accusations it wrongly refused to return advance payments on a cancelled order for 40 of its troubled 737 MAX planes. The Kuwaiti lessor will now buy 20 aircraft from Boeing, instead of 40, with new delivery dates, it said in a bourse filing.
Alafco said it was "looking forward to a long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationship with Boeing."
Boeing suspended deliveries of its narrow-body 737 MAX jet in March last year, when the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the aircraft after the deaths of 346 people in crashes of two 737 MAX planes operated by Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines.
The crisis over the grounding of the once top-selling 737 MAX has cost the US planemaker more than $19 billion, slashed production and hobbled its supply chain, with criminal and US congressional investigations still ongoing.
Alafco's owners include Kuwait Finance House, Gulf Investment Corporation and state airline Kuwait Airways, according to its website.