Leasing giant AerCap says Boeing will ‘bounce back’

The head of the world’s largest aircraft leasing company threw his weight behind Boeing on Monday, saying the jetmaker would overcome a spate of industrial and certification problems.

“I think Boeing will bounce back. There are a few scenes in this movie to be played out yet,” Aengus Kelly, AerCap’s chief executive, told the Airline Economics conference in Dublin.

“Clearly Boeing has got its own issues, but Boeing is a tremendous company that’s helped build the world for the last 100 years and I would never write them off. They still build great airplanes,” said Kelly, whose firm is one of Boeing’s largest customers.

Shares of Boeing fell to a one-year low last week after the US planemaker posted a quarterly loss, unveiled $2.7 billion in charges and added costs and expressed doubts over hitting 737 Max delivery targets.

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Boeing also announced it was delaying its 777X project by more than year to 2025 and could not say when it would resume deliveries of its 787 after a year-long halt.

Kelly said he was a big believer in Boeing’s 737 Max, which he said was attracting robust demand. Rival planemaker Airbus has announced plans to raise output of the competing A320neo family.

The chief executive of AerCap’s smaller rival Avolon said last week that Boeing had lost its way and needed to reimagine its strategic relevance.

The founder of another major leasing company, Air Lease Corp, said earlier on Monday that the Boeing 777X jetliner project was at risk in light of the latest delays.