EVERETT – High fuel costs have caught up with one Boeing Co. customer.
AirTran Airways announced Friday that it will defer delivery of 18 Boeing Co. 737 jets. The carrier originally had scheduled delivery of those 737-700 jets for between 2009 and 2011. It has pushed back delivery to sometime between 2013 and 2014.
“As we stated during our first quarter earnings call, as a result of continuing record high fuel costs, we are reducing planned growth for September 2008, through at least 2009 from 10 percent to no more than flat. This transaction will accomplish a substantial portion of that plan,” said Bob Fornaro, president and chief executive of AirTran Airways, in a press statement.
The airline currently operates 54 Boeing 737-700 series aircraft as well as 87 Boeing 717-200 aircraft.
Earlier this week, Boeing’s commercial rival Airbus received a similar delivery delay request from low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways. The carrier delayed delivery of 21 Airbus jets until 2014 to 2015 from 2009 to 2011.
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