SAS has secured US bankruptcy-court approval to flip an Airbus A350-900 JOLCO into a finance lease, despite earlier opposition to the proposal from the equity owners. In a 13 April order, Judge Michael Wiles approved the entry of the Scandinavian group into a term sheet for a finance lease in relation to MSN 358. The aircraft was one of two JOLCO-financed A350s that SAS rejected in 2022 as part of its US Chapter 11 restructuring programme. SAS sought court permission in early March to enter into a finance lease for the same aircraft and, in a document submitted as part if the motion, said it had initiated negotiations with the JOLCO lenders, consisting of MUFG as facility and security agent, Commerzbank, Bank of China UK and Credit Industriel et Commercial. This led to a finance lease term sheet being formulated that contained what SAS said were "improved rental and other economic terms". But the owner of the aircraft, an entity named JPA No 199, objected to the motion, stating in a filing that SAS and the lenders had undertaken a “set of hostile back-to-back transactions” in relation to the aircraft. This consisted of a foreclosure/enforced sale of the aircraft through a "credit bid" by the finance parties that held a security interest in the A350, followed by a "pre-baked follow-on sale" to SAS. There was also an alternative proposal to lease the aircraft to SAS that would have been undertaken without the owners' consent, JPA 199 asserted. JPA 199 noted that after agreeing the term sheet, the lenders accelerated the debt under the existing debt financing and appointed Geoffrey Bouchier and Philip Dakin of Kroll Advisory to act as joint receivers for the collateral provided by the owner to secure the existing debt financing. MUFG subsequently filed its own submission in which it defended its actions. The 13 April order specifies that nothing within in is "intended to or shall affect any rights or claims (or any defences thereto) of any party, including JPA No. 199 Co, the receiver, and the finance parties, under or in connection with the existing loan agreement, any other transaction document (as defined in the existing loan agreement), any enforcement sale in connection therewith, and/or under applicable law". Notwithstanding anything set forth in the term sheet, the finance lease and/or the other transaction documents to the contrary, the order states, JPA's rights to assert claims against SAS under previous orders and stipulations made by the court are "fully preserved and reserved, provided, in each case, that the debtors retain any and all rights to raise any and all defences to the ownership, validity, enforceability, liability, amounts, priority, and/or allowance of any such claims". Furthermore, the judge states that the order shall not "affect or impair in any way" SAS and JPA from reaching and implementing settlement terms with respect to any claims against the airline reserved and preserved by JPA, subject in all respects to terms of the security documents.

Capacity plans for three of the four US majors face an unwelcome update from Boeing, which disclosed on 13 April that it expects deliveries of 737 Max aircraft will be delayed in the "near term". Boeing has cited a manufacturing issue at one of its suppliers as the cause of the delays. "We expect lower near-term 737 Max deliveries while… required work is completed," the manufacturer states. "We regret the impact that this issue will have on affected customers and are in contact with them concerning their delivery schedule." It adds that it will provide more information "in the days and weeks ahead as we better understand the delivery impacts". US majors American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines are scheduled to take delivery of a combined total of 154 Max jets through the rest of 2023.

Boeing expects deliveries of 737 Max aircraft to be delayed in the near-term after a supplier notified it of a manufacturing issue. The OEM says in a statement shared that the supplier informed it that "a non-standard manufacturing process was used during the installation of two fittings in the aft fuselage section of certain 737-7, 737-8, 737-8-200 and P-8 model airplanes". This, Boeing adds, creates "the potential for a non-conformance to required specifications", and adds that the issue "will likely affect a significant number of undelivered 737 Max airplanes, both in production and in storage." It has notified the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the issue and is working to conduct inspections and replace non-conforming fittings where necessary. The FAA says: "Based on the facts and data Boeing presented, the FAA validated the company’s assessment that there is no immediate safety issue. The FAA is in close communication with Boeing and will continue to evaluate all new affected airplanes prior to delivery." Boeing adds the in-service 737 Max fleet can continue operating. The manufacturer did not name the supplier in its statement; however Spirit AeroSystems confirms that it is the supplier involved. "Spirit has notified our customer, Boeing, that we have identified a quality issue on the aft fuselage section of certain models of the 737 fuselage that Spirit builds. This is not an immediate safety of flight issue," it states. "We have processes in place to address these of types of production issues upon identification, which we are following. Spirit is working to develop an inspection and repair for the affected fuselages. We continue to coordinate closely with our customer to resolve this matter and minimise impacts while maintaining our focus on safety." Boeing says: "We expect lower near-term 737 Max deliveries while this required work is completed. We regret the impact that this issue will have on affected customers and are in contact with them concerning their delivery schedule. "The company adds that it will provide more information "in the days and weeks ahead as we better understand the delivery impacts". It is the second time this year that Boeing has had to halt deliveries over issues with parts supplied by Spirit AeroSystems. In February it paused the delivery of 787s for around three weeks due to an "analysis error" relating to the forward pressure bulkhead.