Enter Air reaches agreement with Boeing over 737 MAX damages

Private Polish airline Enter Air has struck a deal with US plane-maker Boeing to settle damages caused by the grounding of its B737 MAX 8 aircraft as well as changing the delivery date of four further planes ordered earlier.

The purchase contract was also increased by a further two aircraft. The airline currently owns two Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes , delivered at the turn of 2018 and 2019.

"Enter Air (...) has concluded with Boeing a package of contracts, within the framework of which it settles damages for losses borne as a result of the grounding of its Boeing 737-8 MAX aeroplanes and moves the delivery of four earlier ordered planes, increasing the order by a further two," the airline wrote in a communique. "The contract with the American producer also foresees an option to buy two more planes of the same type."

Enter Air pointed out that the other two aircraft were supposed to arrive at the turn of 2020 and 2021. Under the signed agreement, their delivery has been postponed by over two and a half years. The delivery of further aircraft will commence in six years. The carrier stated that the aircrafts' purchase would be financed mostly through loans as well as its own funds. The company does not plan a share issue.

"After signing the deal with Boeing, the combined number of aeroplanes ordered stands at eight, including two in the option. Over a seven-year horizon, after the whole order has been realised, Enter Air will fly 10 new Boeings," the press release explained.

Enter Air General Director Grzegorz Połaniecki was quoted in the release as saying that despite the crisis situation, "it is necessary to think about the future." He said the current market situation was difficult and it made no sense to accept more new planes, particularly since the financing offers today are not very attractive.

The third element of the agreement concerned damages for the grounding of the airline's MAXs, the details of which remain confidential, "but I can say that we are satisfied with the way in which Boeing has treated us as its customers. Everything was sensibly calculated and agreed as it should be between two serious partners," Połaniecki said.