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Lufthansa Group to Buy up to 100 737 MAX Jets in First Boeing Single-Aisle Order in Nearly 30 Years

Posted by swordfi2@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 107 comments

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107 Comments

altecgs@reddit

Insanity.
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reddda2@reddit

Alaska Airlines has entered the chat…
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Ouestlabibliotheque@reddit

Why the hell would they order the max… they have to retrain their staff, maintainers, etc and it is the inferior product…
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Mouseturdsinmyhelmet@reddit

I don't know why you are being downvoted. I personally will never set foot on a boeing product ever again after what they did to aviation safety with the 737 max. I guess people have short memories, too bad.
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76pilot@reddit

For your safety I hope you never get into a car. Flying in a Boeing is far more safe than any vehicle. Aviation has become extremely safe largely because of Boeing.
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Mouseturdsinmyhelmet@reddit

There's 346 dead people that flew the 737 max that would disagree with this statement. Boeing went from being an ambassador of aviation to being evil for the sake of a buck with the 737 max. They should have been sued out of existence for this but their military contracts will always prop them up.
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BoringBob84@reddit

> evil for the sake of a buck Those are sensational headlines. Have you read the official accident reports? > their military contracts will always prop them up Have you seen how much money they are losing on those military contracts?
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Mouseturdsinmyhelmet@reddit

> Have you read the official accident reports? Yes I'm fine with you walking around in darkness.
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76pilot@reddit

737s fly 20,000+ flights a day in the US and there hasn’t been a fatal crash involving the 737 in 30 years in the US.
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DimitriV@reddit

That doesn't change the fact that Boeing made multiple inexcusable errors in the design and implementation of MCAS. Any competent aircraft manufacturer believes in redundancy, plus training pilots on the equipment they are flying. And maybe it wasn't a crash, but someone did die in a 737 accident in the US [five years ago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines_Flight_1380).
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zilist@reddit

No, you're getting downvoted because you don’t have a clue wtf you’re talking about..
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BoringBob84@reddit

> I like that I'm getting downvoted for saying commercial aircraft should have redundant systems and pilots trained on them. Maybe it is because you are spouting sensational media narratives in a forum where there are experts. You don't know what you are talking about. Study the actual reports from the investigators. Learn the complexities. Modern airline accidents don't happen from one single cause. Tragedies in real life are not always caused buy sinister villains, corruption, and greed. Of course, Boeing made mistakes, but learn the details before commenting here.
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MichiganRedWing@reddit

Your last sentence is pretty ridiculous when you know about the story of the 737 Max and even the 787 issues and why they happened in the first place.
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biggsteve81@reddit

Meanwhile Airbus repeatedly has issues of both pilots entering conflicting commands into their side sticks and stalling or crashing their planes, yet nothing is being done to correct that issue.
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MichiganRedWing@reddit

Stalling or crashing? Please, tell us of these many crashes.
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Gaming_Birb@reddit

Qf 72 is an example. No one seems to remember it though.
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Ouestlabibliotheque@reddit

I think he is referring to AF447, a crash from 14 years ago and I’m pretty sure there hasn’t been one since. Also spatial disorientation can happen on any type of aircraft resulting in that kind of crash, it’s not just an Airbus or Boeing thing. You could argue that the pitot tube issues were an example of Airbus negligence but that would be difficult as Airbus was cooperating with the regulator to solve the issue and had passed out a technical note regarding the issue and a fix in the long term.
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76pilot@reddit

It’s not really ridiculous when you look at how far accidents have declined over the decades and who has the most planes in the sky
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DimitriV@reddit

Cars are less safe because of the people operating them, not because they're designed to swerve off the road at random.
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two_layne_blacktop@reddit

Guess you don't remember any of the airbus 320 crashes that happened last decade?
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Ouestlabibliotheque@reddit

Which of those were caused by known issues that Airbus hid from regulators?
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two_layne_blacktop@reddit

You mean the 4 billion dollar in fines that airbus paid out to the US, France, and the UK for bribing government officials? Geez, they sure wouldn't hide anything from anyone.
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Ouestlabibliotheque@reddit

A quick google shows that those bribes were relating to securing contracts, nothing to do with mislead regulators regarding the safety of their aircraft resulting in the death of hundreds.
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two_layne_blacktop@reddit

Or they're a company willing to commit fraud to secure profit.... just like boeing.
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Ouestlabibliotheque@reddit

Are they compromising passenger safety resulting in hundreds of deaths to do so? Again, ignoring the elephant in the room.
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two_layne_blacktop@reddit

"They just bribed government officials, its no big deal, i'm sure they are keeping their nose clean with other governmental entities that could be standing in their way of profit."
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Ouestlabibliotheque@reddit

Not saying it’s no big deal, just saying that scandals that compromise safety and end in deaths are a bigger deal.
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BoringBob84@reddit

This is getting really nasty. I assume that we are all interested in aviation safety. Both Boeing and Airbus (and other manufacturers) make good aircraft and have also made mistakes. I may have my favorite aircraft (Boeing), but I *never* want to see the competition have a catastrophic incident. That is bad for the entire industry. Competition in business keeps each manufacturer competitive, but we should *never* revel in tragedy.
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Mouseturdsinmyhelmet@reddit

The airbus crashes weren't because of greed.
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two_layne_blacktop@reddit

As long as those deaths are ok with you.
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Ouestlabibliotheque@reddit

Nothing to do with safety, the max has its issues and they are now sorted. I just can’t see what edge the max has over the a320neo family right now beyond getting the airframes sooner.
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zilist@reddit

You can’t see the edge because you’re just an amateur who doesn’t know wtf he’s talking about..
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Ouestlabibliotheque@reddit

I’m asking the question and there has been a resounding silence apart from delivery slots… I’m not claiming to know better, I’m asking the question to learn and not many people are able to answer.
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BoringBob84@reddit

If you were an airline and you were looking to expand your narrow-body fleet, the best option would depend on the details of your operations and your routes. https://simpleflying.com/the-airbus-a320neo-vs-boeing-737-max-what-plane-is-best/
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zilist@reddit

You should run your own airline and show them hot it’s done!
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747_Airbus@reddit

lol reddit armchair CEOs
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Ouestlabibliotheque@reddit

In what way is the Max better?
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flightist@reddit

Availability
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747_Airbus@reddit

So how long have you been an airline executive?
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ShortfallofAardvark@reddit

Interesting. I wonder which of the Lufthansa Group airlines will fly the 737 MAX.
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Mo_Zen@reddit

My bet is either SWISS or Austrian. SWISS being the front runner, IMO.
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xxJohnxx@reddit

No way SWISS is getting the 737. They already decided against the 787 and introducing a new Boeing into the fleet makes no sense.
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zilist@reddit

In what universe would it ever be Swiss?? Lmfao!
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Tyr64@reddit

Yeah I’m curious as well. Assuming they want fleet commonality (far from a given with Lufthansa…,) I could see them going to some of the leisure airlines (City, Discover, Eurowings) or to Austrian which already operates Boeing heavies and doesn’t seem to have a significant investment in new Airbus narrow bodies (just 5 NEOs.)
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ShortfallofAardvark@reddit

Austrian was my first thought as well, though the leisure/ low-cost airlines make sense as well. The article said 737-8, but it’s possible that they’re 737-8-200s, in which case they’re almost definitely for the leisure/ low-cost airlines.
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Luckynumberlucas@reddit

Austrian doesn’t really want to re-introduce short haul Boeings. They are going to retire their long haul Boeings soon and want to go full Airbus/Embraer with A350s replacing the 767/777s. They are not gonna be operating 3 different AC fleets.
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Aberfrog@reddit

We are getting 787-9s. 5 from LH and 5 new ones so far
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chafe3232@reddit

They’re retiring the 777 and 767 but they’ve ordered 787s.
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That-Camera-Guy@reddit

Austrian does make a lot of sense
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Tyr64@reddit

And thinking about it more, the scale of the firm + optional orders would make me think they’ll be sent to multiple airlines. The only one who could absorb them all would be LH itself and that doesn’t make much sense since they were directed to simplify their fleet types.
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MyWholeTeamsDead@reddit

Not City, and not LH mainline. I'm betting Austrian, their fleet of Airbuses is ancient (26.1 avg for 321s).
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segelfliegerpaul@reddit

Probably Austrian, they seem to be going more towards Boeing than the rest. Already had 737NGs a while ago, their A320s are getting older and they also have a Boeing-only widebody fleet with 787s adding to it soon.
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kallax82@reddit

City Airlines
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MyWholeTeamsDead@reddit

No, City's getting the 220s only.
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troll__face@reddit

A320's
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AWalkDownMemoryLane@reddit

So far, it appears to be A319s but those will eventually either be supplemented with or replaced by A220s.
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ShortfallofAardvark@reddit

According to the Simple Flying article I just read, City Airlines will be using the A220-300, which Lufthansa Group just ordered as well.
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Sotstorm@reddit

I suspect LH could be using this to pressurise Airbus. LH, along with other airlines, have previously said they’d be interested in the stretch A220 (the so called -500 model) and intimated that it’s entry into production could secure Airbus an order to replace the entire group’s short-medium haul fleet. Perhaps this is LH’s way of saying to Airbus “put the A220-500 into production or you loose out on orders”.
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Waddoo123@reddit

Could be a business move with the intent to lease the maxes... Especially with many of the subsidiaries being Airbus fliers
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xstreamReddit@reddit

Still should have been forced to certify this as an entirely new plane after what happened.
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Vectron383@reddit

And Boeing’s little pig still hasn’t got EICAS/ECAM. Literally the only major airliner in service today that doesn’t.
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mad153@reddit

Might be wrong but my understanding is this is Southwest's fault. They didn't want overhead panel changes or big system changes because it would cost a lot to retrain.
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flightist@reddit

Every airline in the world that operates NGs *and* ordered MAXs got sold a massively more efficient (but significantly more expensive) airplane with no additional pilot training costs. It’s a totally different commercial prospect if they’d done a real redesign of the flight deck (or a clean sheet replacement) and it needed to be operate as a distinct fleet from the NG. People give Boeing a lot of shit for slapping another layer of lipstick on that pig, but if you’re trying to sell airplanes to 737 operators and choice A is a new type that’s got future growth potential and saves you maybe 16-17% on fuel but is a whole new type with all the costs that entails (upfront and ongoing), while B is a 14-15% more efficient 737 you could make money on even if you only bought 1, I’m pretty sure I know which sells more airplanes quicker.
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xstreamReddit@reddit

Which is the exact reason why they get criticized prioritizing profit over safety.
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flightist@reddit

That’s quite a leap. There’s nothing inherently unsafe about the concept of the max. The fuckup was actually making it work.
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xstreamReddit@reddit

That is exactly what I mean, it would have worked fine without MCAS but that would have required retraining.
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flightist@reddit

It would’ve needed MCAS to be certified even if it was an entirely new type. MCAS wasn’t glommed on to save training costs, it’s there to make the low speed high AOA stick forces behave the way they have to for certification. The lack of training comes into it when they basically pretended MCAS didn’t exist as far as pilots are concerned.
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xstreamReddit@reddit

As far as I understood the forces weren't out side of any absolute limits they were just to different from the other 737s which would have made retraining necessary.
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flightist@reddit

There’s tons of places that explain it like that but directly from Boeing sources it’s only there to meet stick force vs speed curve requirements, specifically to maintain an average of at least 1 pound stick force per 6 knots.
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Zaphod424@reddit

Absolutely, I will still always try to avoid flying on the 737 Max. Both because it should have had to be certified as a new plane, if they missed something as catastrophic as MCAS who knows what else is wrong with that plane? I mean it is very unlikely that there is anything else which will cause crashes, but I also don’t want to fly on it out of principle, Boeing got off very lightly for their gross negligence, I don’t want to support them by flying on airlines who buy that jet. I know I won’t make much of a difference, but I will make an incremental one, and if a lot of people do the same then it will affect the airlines who buy the max, which will in turn make airlines think twice about buying it, which will hurt Boeing.
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Vectron383@reddit

What were they thinking?!
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BoringBob84@reddit

Maybe ask them. They are not idiots. They must have had good reason.
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Vectron383@reddit

A huge discount on the retail price probably
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BoringBob84@reddit

It is possible, but I doubt it. Boeing isn't in a financial position to lose money on sales right now.
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workacct20910@reddit

Boeing's management is still shit. The tanker program, the 787 manufacturing issues, the Orion capsule...sure the backlog is nice, but until they fix their C-suite I'm not touching the stock again.
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ambuscador@reddit

I wouldn't equate projects from Boeing Defense with Boeing Commercial. Very different entities.
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Sensitive_Paper2471@reddit

Both equally bad in terms of on time delivery. Boeing Defense made a loss on all of its fixed price contracts. Boeing Commercial is struggling to certify aircraft and fix quality issues.
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BoringBob84@reddit

> Boeing Defense made a loss on all of its fixed price contracts. And now they aren't accepting those crappy contracts any more. Seems to me that they are learning from their mistakes. > The company and the air force could not agree on some contract terms, including data rights, according to a report by Reuters. > Boeing also reportedly refused to sign a fixed-price agreement requiring it to defray additional production costs when an agreed limit is reached. > As early as October, the American aerospace firm indicated it would move away from fixed-price contracts after its defense unit lost $1.3 billion on fixed-price programs this year. https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/12/04/boeing-us-air-force-doomsday/
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Sensitive_Paper2471@reddit

"crappy contracts" more like crappy cost management combined with underbidding initially to get the contract then showing the real costs when cost plus contracts are given. Target costing is done very poorly.
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BoringBob84@reddit

> Target costing is done very poorly. These are complex military developmental aircraft that have never been built before. Estimating gets more difficult as the product gets more complex and more risky.
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BoringBob84@reddit

There are many causes for losses, but the bottom line is that if a business keeps losing money on high-risk fixed-price contracts, then it is wise to negotiate some risk sharing, negotiate a much higher price, or withdraw from the bidding.
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Adjutant_Reflex_@reddit

It doesn’t completely absolve them of their struggles, but you can’t simply ignore the realities of COVID/post-COVID disruptions to the labor and materials market. Or the effects of the invasion of Ukraine with Russia being a significant source of titanium exports and Boeing shuttering a major engineering hub in Moscow, to name a few. Even the best run project would almost certainly go into the red.
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obscene6788@reddit

They’re in the middle of a cultural shift. Anyone’s who worked in engineering and a F500 knows how long it takes to turn the ship.
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AWildDragon@reddit

Orion is Lockheed. Starliner is Boeing.
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workacct20910@reddit

Corrected
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AppleDry1@reddit

….what would it take for Lockheed Martin to take another go at civilian jets? 😂
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BoringBob84@reddit

If you think that Boeing is behind schedule and over budget, then holy shit - fasten your seat belt and hold my beer!
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AppleDry1@reddit

Hey, I just liked the TriStar and sad they never continued building more civilian stuff, ok? Don’t bring me down with reality…
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BoringBob84@reddit

> I just like the TriStar I do too - an excellent machine.
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0235@reddit

At the moment it's only 40 commited with another possible 60 in the future. They also bought 40 new a320's and 40 new a220's with a possible extra 20 a220's In the future.
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zilist@reddit

LG getting the 737s back?? I'm all for it!
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red-broccoli@reddit

I'm not an avid aviation connoisseur, more a causal enjoyer - so someone correct me if I'm blatantly off. But wasn't the 737 max the one that was, due to technical or sensor error, uncontrollably pulling the nose up after take off to a point of stalling, killing hundreds in the subsequent crashes? Or am I confusing something here?
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ontopofyourmom@reddit

Two crashes by small international airlines where pilots were not appropriately trained. The problem was the need for additional training and the process by which things got there. It did not affect the safety of large airlines.
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Murmeldjuret@reddit

Not at all a fair characterisation of what happened. It could’ve happened anywhere. The design was faulty with 500+ dead as as a result. Ethiopian is also not exactly a small airline.
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Davito32@reddit

neither is Lion Air at 110+ jets. Pretty ignorant comment overall.
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littlechefdoughnuts@reddit

And Lion Air is a major LCC. I wouldn't call any carrier with a fleet of over a hundred aircraft and significant home market share small.
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torlesse@reddit

Ah, yes, lack of training, yep, thats it. Poor training! Such a simple issue to rectify!
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DimitriV@reddit

Technically it was lack of training: the pilots were not trained on Boeing's auto-crash system that was hooked up to a single point of failure.
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red-broccoli@reddit

That's really helpful. Maybe I should read up on that. But weren't they pulled from service and there was an investigation by Congress? Maybe I'm mixing things up here. Guess I'll comb through google and see what I find.
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phoenixgtr@reddit

> uncontrollably pulling the nose up after take off to a point of stalling It's the opposite
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aeroespacio@reddit

Yes, it was. It has since been fixed and has returned to incident-free service for some time now.
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Famous-Reputation188@reddit

Probably because the A320 line is so much longer. Honestly at this point narrow body airline sales are more like condo pre-sales. A type of options trading to either lock in a low price or sell at a profit. With all of the potential volatility.
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Jaggent@reddit

I really dont think they are going MAX with OS, LH or LX. Most likely theyre going to discovery to replace the ceos or something entirely new. Their mainline operations are quire ULD heavy, and the MAX goes completely against that.
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memostothefuture@reddit

> What’s interesting that most people have forgotten is that Lufthansa was the original launch customer for the 737. > > people on both sides of the contract who are not just long retired but firmly under ground.
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MyWholeTeamsDead@reddit

While I agree it might well be used as an option, I don't think LH mainline is taking up the MAX. They have far too many new Airbus narrowbodies to introduce a sub-fleet at this point and they have good delivery slots for previous orders. This is most likely going to someone else in the group, my guess being Austrian.
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Gluecksritter90@reddit

Sunexpress already flies the 737.
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Starboard314@reddit

Ausgezeichnet!
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