Boeing 737 Max return gathers pace with 100 planes back in sky

Bloomberg

The number of Boeing Co. 737 Max jets back in service has now topped 100 as airlines in the US, Brazil and Europe add more flights with the re-certified jet.
More than 1,300 flights were logged in the week through March 3, with American Airlines Group Inc. operating almost 400 flights, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Brazilian carrier Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, which was the first to restart services with the Max in December, had the highest utilization with its eight aircraft flying almost 11 hours a day, Cirium said in a statement.
Regulators around the world have followed the US Federal Aviation Administration in clearing the Max to resume flying after two fatal crashes led to its grounding in March 2019.
China was the first country to impose a ban after the second crash killed 157 people in Ethiopia. The Asian country has yet to approve the jet’s return, with regulators saying that they still had safety concerns.
Boeing has also resumed Max deliveries after inventories built up during the suspension. United Airlines Holdings Inc. this week expanded an existing order by 25 planes. Prior to the 2019 grounding, about 360 Max jets were in service around the world, according to Cirium.

Boeing seeks another $4b of liquidity from banks
Boeing Co. is seeking a new $4 billion revolving credit facility from a group of banks, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as it prepares to ride out a potentially lengthy slowdown in global aircraft demand.
The planemaker has the option to increase the size of the two-year facility to as much as $6 billion. So-called “revolver” loans are typically left undrawn by investment-grade rated firms such as Boeing and are used as a back-up form of liquidity.
The company has leaned heavily on banks for financing over the past year. In early 2020, following a pair of crashes that grounded its 737 Max airplane, the company signed a $13.8 billion delayed-draw term loan, drawing the full amount down just weeks later amid the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. That helped kicked off a global dash for cash as corporations tapped banks for hundreds of billions of dollars of financing.
In recent months, Boeing has faced a raft of suspended or postponed orders as global air travel struggles to bounce back. In addition, the company is now dealing with manufacturing flaws in its 787 Dreamliner, and is trying to resolve issues that have halted deliveries of the jetliner since October.
The Chicago-based planemaker’s path to generating cash over the next two years, after burning through $20 billion last year, depends on its ability to offload more than 500 jets — mainly Dreamliners and 737 Max — that have stacked up in inventory.

Boeing’s new $4 billion revolver is on top of its other existing forms of liquidity. The company already has about $9.5 billion of unused revolving credit facility capacity in three tranches spread out over 364-day, three-year, and five-year portions.
While demand for Boeing’s debt has remained strong, the company’s investment-grade rating has come under pressure over the past year. The planemaker is now rated BBB-, the last rung before junk, by both S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. Moody’s Investors Service rates it one step higher at Baa2.
The undrawn fee on the new revolver is 40 basis points based on current rating levels, according to the people with knowledge of the deal. If the company draws the loan, Boeing will pay a spread of 200 basis points over the London interbank offered rate. Boeing must also pay banks an initial 40 basis point upfront fee when the loan is signed.
Commitments for the banks that decide to participate are due later this month, they added.