Chinese aircraft leasing firm hits pause on US$5.8 billion Boeing 737 MAX order as it awaits assurance on jet’s safety

China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings (CALC) has put its order for 100 Boeing 737 MAX jets temporarily on hold until it is assured of the aircraft’s safety.

The Hong Kong-listed lessor, controlled by the state-owned conglomerate China Everbright Group, placed an order for 50 aircraft in June 2017. CALC then increased it by another 25 in December with an option for 25 more as part of its plan to grow its overall fleet from 133 in 2018 to 232 by 2023. According to the original schedule, the first MAX jet was expected to be delivered to CALC in the third quarter of this year and continue up to 2023.

“The purchasing procedure has been temporarily put on hold and we have stopped the payments” because the matter is being worked out with the aircraft manufacturer, said Chen Shuang, chairman of CALC and chief executive of China Everbright, the financial arm of China Everbright Group.

The order for the first 50 aircraft was valued at US$5.8 billion.

In a separate interview on April 9, Mike Poon, the CALC chief executive, clarified the company had not stopped payments, but as its deliveries were on hold, it did not need to make payments for the time being.