Boeing's 10 airline customers waiting for the most planes

AerCap isn’t technically an airline, but an aircraft leasing company. Still, it’s waiting on 136 planes from Boeing. Of that number, 118 of them are 737 Max planes, and 18 of them are 787 Dreamliner planes. A slide in a recent investor presentation noted that “manufacturing delays, coupled with increased oversight and engine maturation challenges, continue to delay the delivery of new technology aircraft” for the foreseeable future.

American Airlines is waiting on 181 planes from Boeing. Of that number, 156 of them are 737 Max planes, and 25 of them are 787 Dreamliner planes. On an April earnings call, CEO Robert Isom told a reporter that “I’ve talked to everyone at Boeing that I can possibly address. And the message is the same, get your act together.”

VietJet Air is waiting on 200 planes from Boeing. All of them are 737 Max planes. It originally ordered 100 of the jetliners in 2016, then Bloomberg reports that it ordered another 100 in 2018. It hasn’t taken delivery of any of them. Its fleet is otherwise comprised of Airbus planes.

Air India is also waiting on 200 planes from Boeing. Of that number, 170 of them are 737 Max planes, 20 of them are 787 Dreamliner planes, and 10 are 777 planes. The carrier is in the middle of major expansion and just retired the old 747s that had been in service for nearly 20 years.

Akasa Air is waiting on 202 planes from Boeing, all of which are 737 Max planes. Akasa is India’s youngest airline, and Reuters reports that most of its orders came mere days after the Alaska Airlines incident.

Ryanair is waiting on 211 planes from Boeing. All of them are 737 Max planes. The company recently said that it would have cut down on its summer flight schedule because it hasn’t received many of the Boeing planes it had been expecting to receive by now.

Lion Air is waiting on 229 planes from Boeing, all of which are 737 Max planes. Bloomberg reports that the carrier had wanted to cancel its order after a fatal 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 plane crash that came months after Lion Air’s own fatal 737 Max plane crash, but Boeing convinced them not to switch to Airbus. The Justice Department said the Alaska Airlines incident violated a plea deal that followed an investigation into the crashes.

Emirates is waiting on 240 planes from Boeing. Of that number, 205 of them are are 777 passenger planes, 30 are 787 Dreamliner planes, and 5 are 777 freight planes. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, CEO of Emirates, recently told Boeing publicly: “Get your act together and just do it.”

Southwest is waiting on 482 planes from Boeing, all of them 737 Max planes. In March, the company cut its guidance on its capacity for the year because it didn’t think it would have the Boeing planes it has been waiting on.

United Airlines is waiting on 497 planes from Boeing. Of that number, 347 are 787 Max planes and 150 are 787 Dreamliner planes. On an April call discussing the previous quarter’s earnings, CFO Michael Leskinen said that “Boeing’s repeated delivery delays had created an impractical bow wave of aircraft deliveries that both United and Boeing had to address.”