United Airlines has followed through on plans to ditch its massive order for Boeing’s 737 MAX 10 aircraft and is exploring other alternatives — including Airbus A321s — until the troubled plane is certified.United CEO Scott Kirby made the announcement at an investor conference in New York on Tuesday where he told investors that it just can’t wait any longer for a product that is already more than five years delayed.In the interim the company has requested more of the also delayed MAX 9s and is looking at Airbus to fill the shortfall..“This is not a 12-month issue, this is a two-decade issue. I’d rather Boeing do what they need to do and they are now.”United CEO Scott Kirby .“It’s impossible to say when the MAX 10 is going to get certified,” he said. “We’ve asked Boeing to stop building Max 10s, which they’ve done, for us and start building MAX 9s.”United has more than 277 of the single-aisle stretched variant on back order which has been halted while the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) reviews quality control issues after a door plug fell off an Alaska Airlines' MAX 8 over Oregon in January. It has options for 200 more.But Kirby said he doesn’t expect production to ramp up any time soon. “This is not a 12-month issue, this is a two-decade issue. I’d rather Boeing do what they need to do and they are now.”On the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a criminal investigation into the January 5 incident on the Alaska Airlines' Jet after it couldn’t find records sought by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sought for work done on the suspect panel at a Boeing factory..In a statement, Seattle-based Alaska said it “does not believe” it is the target of the investigation.It’s just the latest in a string of troubles at the embattled aircraft maker which saw three incidents last week alone, including an incident where a Boeing 777 lost a wheel on takeoff and crushed cars in the parking lot of the San Francisco airport.That prompted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to comment that Boeing needs a “serious transformation” to how it conducts business. The company is the largest exporter of any kind in the Lower 48.“Obviously we respect the independence of DOJ (the Department of Justice) and NTSB (the National Transportation Safety Board) doing their own work,” Buttigieg told reporters. “But we are not neutral on the question of whether Boeing should fully cooperate with any entity — NTSB, us, or DOJ. They should and we expect them to.”Although it remains in production, even the MAX 9 has suffered delays after deliveries fell more than a third in January, to 17 jets from a typical monthly order of 25, the company said Tuesday.
