Indonesian Airline cancels order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jet, says passengers have lost trust

Indonesia's national carrier has cancelled an order for 49 of the Boeing jets which have crashed twice in five months.

Garuda said its passengers have 'lost trust and no longer have confidence' in the Boeing 737 Max 8 jet after a combined 346 passengers died in air disasters in Indonesia and Ethiopia.


The end of the $4.9bn (£3.7bn) order, believed to be the first such cancellation for the jet, deals a fresh blow to the Boeing plane after governments across the globe blocked it from their airspace.

Garuda, which ordered 50 aircraft is also talking to Boeing about whether or not to return the one plane it has already received.

Boeing officials will visit Indonesia next week to discuss Garuda's plans to call off the order.

“We have sent a letter to Boeing requesting that the order be cancelled,” Garuda spokesman, Ikhsan Rosan announced.


“The reason is that Garuda passengers in Indonesia have lost trust and no longer have the confidence in the plane,” he said.

Lion Air has also said it was postponing delivery of four of the jets after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.

The Ethiopian tragedy came after a Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in Indonesia in October, killing all 189 people on board.

Source: Daily Mail.