American Airlines has not been directly affected by either the FAA's grounding of certain Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft or the regulator's recommended inspection of 737-900ERs fitted with mid-cabin door plugs, but the US carrier still relies on Boeing for a lot of its aircraft. The Fort Worth-based airline does not operate Max 9s or have the variant on order, It also does not operate 737-900 aircraft. Speaking during a 25 January earnings call, American chief executive Robert Isom noted that "some of Boeing's current issues are all around the Max 9 and 737-900 – American doesn't fly them". Nevertheless, he points out that American is a "big Boeing customer", and that the US manufacturer "needs to get their act together". American operates 488 Boeing aircraft and 494 Airbus jets. It has on order 101 and 54 Boeing and Airbus aircraft, respectively. Isom says: "All of Boeing needs to come together and get back on the right track. We will encourage Boeing to do everything they can to produce a quality product." He adds that he "has great confidence" in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator Mike Whitaker and expects he "will hold Boeing accountable". "Aviation in the United States – throughout the world – is the safest form of transportation. We need to keep it that way," Isom says. Isom notes that in addition to not operating the Max 9, American is "the operator [globally] with the largest amount of Airbus aircraft". American operates 59 Max 8s, and has 71 of that variant on order. It has no Max 7s or 10s on order, so it is not exposed to delays in certification of those two variants. "We have 20 Max 8s that are on the horizon for next year," Isom says. American in the fourth quarter of 2023 made an operating profit of $656 million, down 53% year on year. It generated $13 billion in total operating revenue during the period, down 1% compared with the fourth quarter of 2022. Total operating expenses increased 5%, to $12.4 billion. Capacity in the fourth quarter was raised 6% year on year. The carrier ended 2023 with $10.4 billion of total available liquidity, and total liabilities of $22 billion. American expects to raise capacity in the first quarter 6.5-8.5% versus the first quarter of 2023. Additionally, it forecasts that total revenue per available seat-mile in the first quarter of 2024 will be down 3.5-5.5% year on year.

Gol is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, a move taken after the Brazilian carrier had for months tried to restructure its obligations with lessors. The carrier – which, like Colombia-based Avianca, is a subsidiary under parent Abra Group – enters the US legal process with a financing commitment of $950 million in new debtor-in-possession financing from an ad hoc group of Abra bondholders, as well as certain other Abra bondholders. "The company will seek access to this funding as part of its first-day hearing in the coming days," Gol says, adding: "The financing is subject to court approval and, along with cash generated from ongoing operations, will provide substantial liquidity to support operations in the normal course during the Chapter 11 process." Gol notes that the Chapter 11 filing will enable it to continue operations while restructuring its near-term financial obligations and strengthening its capital structure for long-term sustainability. "Gol has undertaken significant efforts to provide the best travel experience for our customers, while improving our profitability and financial position," states the carrier's chief executive Celso Ferrer. "We have made outstanding progress to date and believe that this process will allow us to fully address the challenges caused by the pandemic while we maintain our high standard of service to our customers." Delays in deliveries of 737 Max aircraft from Boeing had complicated the all-737 carrier's ongoing contract restructuring negotiations with its lessors, Gol finance chief Mario Liao observed during Gol's investor day presentation in Sao Paulo on 14 December. Gol ­– which at 25 January has a fleet of 144 737 aircraft, all but one of which are under operating lease ­– had been scheduled to take delivery of 15 Max narrowbodies from Boeing in 2023. "We received one, so we had a lack of 14 aircraft," Liao said on 14 December, adding: "We have a lack of contribution on sale-leasebacks. [And] we don't know how many aircraft will be available [in 2024]." Like its Brazilian rival Azul, Gol sought revisions of its lease terms to ease management of debt accrued during the Covid-19 pandemic. Azul concluded its restructuring efforts in October 2023. Gol's restructuring negotiations, which commenced in mid 2023, persisted. "Our exposure with the lessors is almost the same as Azul, but we have just the 737," Liao said in December. Azul operates a diverse fleet of Embraer, Airbus, ATR, Boeing and Pilatus aircraft. Both carriers posted profits in the third quarter of 2023. Azul made an operating profit of R977 million ($197 million) in the third quarter, more than doubling its R404 million profit in the same period of 2022. Gol's third-quarter operating profit rose to R825 million ($168 million) from R40.7 million. In spring 2023, Gol appointed SkyWorks to advise on the restructuring of its lease obligations, adding Seabury Capital in early December as a second financial adviser. AerCap is Gol's most-exposed lessor, with 28 aircraft leased to the carrier, followed by Carlyle Aviation Partners (21 aircraft) and Castlelake (16).

The US Federal Aviation Administration has approved a plan to start returning 171 grounded Boeing 737 Max 9s to service but will not allow the airframer to expand production rates across the Max programme. The FAA says that a comprehensive inspection and maintenance process for mid cabin door plugs will have to be completed on each Max 9 to allow them to return to service. This includes sections of specific bolts, guide tracks and fittings, retorquing fasteners and correcting any damage to the plugs and their fittings. "The exhaustive, enhanced review our team completed after several weeks of information gathering gives me and the FAA confidence to proceed to the inspection and maintenance phase," says FAA administrator Mike Whitaker. "However, let me be clear: This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing. We will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 Max until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved." Fleets data shows that Boeing delivered 386 Max jets in 2023, lower than its original target of 400-450 as the programme was beset by quality issues stemming from key supplier Spirit AeroSystems. The FAA adds that it will increase its scrutiny of the airframer's production and manufacturing activities, including "increased floor presence at all Boeing facilities", and an investigation into its compliance and manufacturing requirements. In response Boeing issued a short statement that reads: "We will continue to cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and follow their direction as we take action to strengthen safety and quality at Boeing. We will also work closely with our airline customers as they complete the required inspection procedures to safely return their 737-9 airplanes to service." Soon after the FAA announcement, Alaska Airlines said that the first of its 65 Max 9s would start returning to service from 26 January following the inspection process. The carrier estimates it will take to take around 12 hours per aircraft to complete the process and should complete those inspections over the next week. United Airlines advised staff that its 79 Max 9s would undergo the inspections and start re-entering scheduled service from 28 January.