Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker may be driving himself and Boeing executives in to a frenzy about delays on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but two Indian carriers who ordered the aircraft are crying . . . . . . all the way to the bank.
At the start of the week Boeing said that it will compensate Air India and Jet Airways for the “gross” delays in deliveries of the new jet
Air India placed orders for 27 Dreamliners and Jet Airways has 10 on order. Deliveries to Air India are now slated begin in 2011 and Jet in 2014.
Executives at both Jet and Air India must be thanking their lucky stars. They have killed two birds with one delay.
As the bottom fell out of the Indian airline market, these executives must have been worried sick how to defer deliveries of ordered aircraft, and penalties they would have to pay the airframe manufacturer.
Not only has Boeing solved their problem by delayed deliveries, but it has been forced to add the compensation cherry on the top of the proverbial cake.
Thanks to the delayed deliveries and the number of airlines anxious to receive the new airplane, both Jet and Air India stand to make handsome profits if they wish to sell their delivery slots to other airlines.
Talk about having your cake and eating it too, and the icing, and the cherry and the whole dessert buffet table.