Boeing finds the first buyer for a 737 Max since its grounding
波音公司找到737 Max自停飛以來的第一個買家

來源：CNN 翻譯：世界播

Boeing got a huge vote of confidence for its troubled 737 Max on Tuesday as International Airlines Group announced it plans to buy 200 of the jets.

週二，國際航空集團宣佈計劃購買200架波音737 Max飛機，這讓波音公司獲得了一張重量級的信任票。

Boeing (BA) and IAG, the owner of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and other European carriers, announced a letter of intent on the purchase of the jets at the Paris Air Show.

在巴黎航展上，波音和國際航空集團（愛爾蘭航空、英國航空、伊比利亞航空等歐洲航空公司的所有者）宣佈了交易這些飛機的意向書。

沃爾什（右二）和波音CEO米倫伯格（右一）

Although IAG does use wide-body jets from Boeing, the purchase is a major shift for IAG, which now almost exclusively uses the A320 family aircraft from rival Airbus (EADSF) for its single-aisle jets.

儘管國際航空集團經常使用來自波音的寬體客機，但此次購買對該集團來說是一個重大轉變，因爲該集團現在幾乎只使用波音競爭對手空中客車公司的A320系列飛機作爲單通道噴氣式飛機。

Boeing 737 Max jets were grounded in mid-March in the wake of fatal crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Boeing has been working to come up with a fix to the automatic safety feature that is the focus of crash investigations. There is not yet a time frame for the 737 Max's return to service.

在埃塞俄比亞和印度尼西亞致命墜機事件後，波音737 Max客機於3月中旬停飛。波音公司一直在努力解決自動安全問題，這也是墜機調查的重點。目前還沒有確定737 Max何時會恢復使用。

"We have every confidence in Boeing and expect that the aircraft will make a successful return to service in the coming months having received approval from the regulators," said Willie Walsh, CEO of IAG.

國際航空集團首席執行官威利•沃爾什表示：“我們對波音充滿信心，並預計在獲得監管機構批准後，這款飛機將在未來幾個月成功恢復服務。”

The 737 Max is Boeing's bestselling jet, and it has a backlog of nearly 5,000 of the planes on order. It has continued to build the jets since the grounding, although at a reduced pace. But it has not made any deliveries. It also has not reported any sales of the 737 Max since the groundings.

737 Max是波音公司最暢銷的飛機，它積壓了近5000架飛機的訂單。自停飛以來，該公司一直在繼續建造噴氣式飛機，不過速度有所放緩。該公司尚未交付任何訂單。自波音737 Max飛機停飛以來，該公司也沒有發佈任何銷售報告。

"We are truly honored and humbled by the leadership at International Airlines Group for placing their trust and confidence in the 737 Max and, ultimately, in the people of Boeing," said Kevin McAllister, CEO of the company's commercial planes unit.

波音商用飛機部門首席執行官凱文•麥卡利斯特表示：“國際航空集團的領導層對737 Max寄予信任和信心，最根本也是對波音員工們寄予信心，我們感到十分榮幸。”

Boeing said the list price for 200 of the 737 Max jets would be about $24 billion. But an industry expert said any sale of the 737 Max at this point is likely at a sizable discount.

波音表示，200架737 Max飛機的標價將在240億美元左右。但一位業內專家表示，目前只要訂購737 Max都有可能獲得相當大的折扣。

"This is a very positive development for both sides. Boeing got a great endorsement from a respected airline group and IAG gets a heavily discounted jet," said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with the Teal Group.

“這對雙方來說都是一個非常積極的發展。波音得到了一家重要航空集團的大力支持，國際航空集團也得到了一批大幅降價的飛機。”蒂爾集團航空航天分析師理查德·阿布拉菲亞說。

Boeing said it does not comment about discussions about prices it has with customers.

波音表示，對與客戶就價格進行的討論不予置評。

Before Tuesday, its most recent sale of commercial jets of any kind took place in late March. Earlier Tuesday it announced it had sold 30 of the 787 Dreamliner to Korean Air.

週二之前，該公司最近一次出售商用飛機是在3月底。週二早些時候，波音宣佈已向大韓航空出售了30架787夢想飛機。

While the IAG sale is not finalized, it is a far more significant announcement than the Korean Air sale, and not just because the 737 Max has been the focus of so many questions and uncertainty.

雖然國際航空集團的交易還沒有最終敲定，但這比大韓航空的訂單要重要得多，這不僅僅是因爲737 Max一直是諸多問題和不確定性的焦點。

"Letters of intent generally don't mean much, but this one is extremely meaningful," said Aboulafia.

阿布拉菲亞說：“意向書通常意義不大，但這份意向書意義非凡。”

Boeing and Airbus are a duopoly, basically controlling the commercial jet market for airlines around the world. But as much as they compete, it is typically very difficult to get an airline flying one manufacturer's aircraft to buy versions of a competing aircraft. They prefer to allow pilots to move freely between all the planes that might be used on a specific route, and having two types of aircraft also increases the cost of parts and maintenance.

波音和空客是兩強壟斷集團，基本上控制着全球航空公司的商用飛機市場。但鑑於它們之間的激烈競爭，讓使用空客飛機的航空公司去購買競爭對手波音的飛機通常也非常困難。他們更願意讓飛行員在所有可能在特定航線上使用的飛機之間隨意調動，且擁有兩種類型的飛機還會增加零部件和維護成本。

"At this stage in the order cycle, it's pretty unusual for an airline to switch," Aboulafia said. "It's certainly noteworthy."

阿布拉菲亞稱“在訂貨週期這個階段，航空公司更換飛機是相當不尋常的。這當然是值得關注的。”

Even so, there can be advantages when an airline buys a competing type of aircraft, according to Walsh, the IAG CEO.

即便如此，據國際航空集團首席執行官沃爾什說，航空公司購買競爭機型也有好處。

"Given the scale of our operations, I see no reason why we should be confined to Airbus," he told the business publication Aero Telegraph earlier this month. "That is not healthy. There [should be] competition between aircraft manufacturers."

本月早些時候，他對商業刊物《航空電訊報》表示：“鑑於我們業務的規模，我認爲沒有理由將我們的業務侷限於空客。這是不健康的。飛機制造商之間（應該）存在競爭。”

Meanwhile, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told CNN on Tuesday he is not overly concerned about losing this sale to Boeing.

與此同時，週二，空客首席執行官吉約姆·傅裏告訴CNN，他並不太擔心這筆交易會輸給波音。

"I don't think it's a blow," he said. "We are very successful with our own single-aisle at the moment. We have a lot of orders and we see the future very [positively]."

“我不認爲這是一個打擊，”他說，“目前，我們的單通道飛機非常成功。我們接到了很多訂單，我們對未來非常樂觀。”

And Aboulafia said he does not expect this will start a flood of orders for the 737 Max. Many airlines have already placed orders for the single-aisle aircraft that they think they'll need in the coming years.

專家阿布拉菲亞表示，他預計這不會給737 Max帶來大量訂單。許多航空公司已經訂購了單通道飛機——他們認爲未來幾年將需要這種飛機。

"This doesn't change the fact that most people already have what they need in the pipeline," he said.

他說：“這並不會改變一個事實，那就是大多數公司已經有了他們需要的東西。”

And the large backlog of 737 Max orders means that IAG is unlikely to receive any of these planes for at least several years. By then the current questions about the safety of the 737 Max could be long forgotten by many fliers.

大量積壓的737 Max訂單意味着，國際航空集團至少在數年內不太可能收到任何一架飛機。到那時，目前有關737 Max飛機安全性的問題可能早已被許多乘客遺忘。