MOSCOW, RUSSIA — Russian low-cost carrier Pobeda announced that it has dropped its order for 20 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The order cancellation won't cause a penalty for the airline, because the Russian regulator did not remove the flight ban yet for the type.



In 2018, Aeroflot Group was considering the potential purchase of 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets for its subsidiary Pobeda. But in early 2019, Aeroflot changed its mind and reduced the initial potential order to 20 Boeing 737 MAX 8s. The move was taken as the group was forced by the Russian government to acquire more Russian-made jets instead of Arbus and Boeing.

In 2019, Boeing paused deliveries of 737 MAX to customers due to the temporary grounding after two fatal crashes within six months - in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia in March 2019.

Both crashes were blamed on the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which activated in response to the erroneous angle of attack information. After that, flights of Boeing 737 MAX were suspended.

Later, Boeing fixed the error. Currently, some countries removed the flight ban for aircraft, but Russia is not among them.