Boeing announced that Polish airline Enter Air has committed to buy four types of its 737 aircraft family, marking the ailing planemaker’s first order this year.
Boeing (BA) said it received a new order from Enter Air for two 737-8 airplanes plus options for two more jets. The purchase agreement comes after the planemaker earlier this month reported that it lost a total of 836 plane orders in the first 7 months of this year, while also taking a hit from last year’s grounding of the 737 MAX aircraft following two fatal crashes.
An all-Boeing operator and Poland’s biggest charter carrier, Enter Air began operations in 2010 with a single 737 airplane. Today, the airline’s fleet includes 22 next-generation 737s and two 737 MAX airplanes. Once the new purchase agreement is fully exercised, Enter Air’s 737 MAX fleet will rise to 10 aircraft.
“Despite the current crisis, it is important to think about the future. To that end, we have agreed to order additional 737-8 aircraft,” said Grzegorz Polaniecki, general director at Enter Air. “Following the rigorous checks that the 737 MAX is undergoing, I am convinced it will be the best aircraft in the world for many years to come.”
In addition, Boeing announced that it reached a settlement agreement with Enter Air to address the commercial impacts stemming from the grounding of the 737 MAX fleet. While the details of the agreement are confidential, the compensation will be provided in a number of forms and staggered over a period of time, Boeing said.
“In the settlement with Boeing, we agreed to revise the delivery schedule for the previously-ordered airplanes in response to current market conditions. The specific terms of the settlement are strictly confidential, but we are pleased with the way Boeing has treated us as its customer,” said Polaniecki.
Shares in BA have plunged 49% year-to-date as the coronavirus travel restrictions have resulted in a deep cut in the number of commercial jets and services Boeing customers need over the next few years. As such, global airlines suffering billions of dollars in losses have been seeking to cancel or delay some of the orders they have with Boeing.
Cowen & Co analyst Cai Rumohr earlier this month reiterated a Hold rating on the stock with a $150 price target (11% downside potential), while saying that aircraft deliveries remain depressed even though some COVID-19-related travel restrictions have eased. (See BA stock analysis on TipRanks)
“Customer deferrals remain the key issue as customers push out accepting 787 deliveries given international travel remains depressed,” Rumohr wrote in a note to investors.
The rest of the Street has a cautiously optimistic Moderate Buy consensus on the stock. That’s with a $187.63 average analyst price target (12% upside potential).
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