One of the world’s largest airlines appears to be rebranding its Boeing 737 Max jets as customers say they don’t want to fly on the plane after its two fatal crashes.
Woodys Aerospace, a blogger and photographer based in Renton, Washington — the location of Boeing’s headquarters — shared image of a Ryanair jet on Sunday that showed the “737 Max” writing on the side of a jet’s nose replaced with “737 8200.”
Ryanair had ordered a version of Boeing’s 737 Max 8 plane called a 737 Max 200, and it is possible that the “727 8200” is a mixture of the two names with the word “Max”removed.
Ryanair didn’t immediately respond to a request from Business Insider for confirmation it has rebranded its 737 Max jets. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Michael O’Leary, the CEO of the Irish airline, has continued to express confidence in Boeing, though like many other airlines he said is seeking compensation as the jets remain grounded around the world after the two crashes and further plane deliveries are stalled.
Ryanair flies a fleet made up exclusively of Boeing planes, though it had not yet started flying the Max planes it had ordered before the plane model was grounded around the world.
O’Leary told Reuters last week that the plane needs to return by the end of November at the latest “so as not to disrupt our growth for the summer of 2020,” but there is currently no set time for the jet’s return.
Boeing has even said that it is open to the idea of renaming the Max, though experts told Business Insider that such a move would be seen as a transparent stunt.
Airlines have mostly continued to express confidence in Boeing publicly, though the company’s status as the world’s largest planemaker is under threat as deliveries stall and at least one airline has cancelled its order for Max planes.
Customers have expressed skepticism about the plane after two crashes, in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia in March 2019, killed 346 people.
In a June poll, 41% of Americans said the plane would need to be safely back in service for six months before they would consider flying on it.
And other airlines have also found ways to try and soothe customers’ fears. American Airlines, for instance, said that it will fly senior executives on 737 Max planes before any regular passengers in an attempt to reassure the public that the plane is safe.
The planes will remain grounded until they are certified to fly again by the US Federal Aviation Administration and regulators around the world.
Newly emerging issues with the plane could see it grounded for months to come, and some airlines have cancelled flights until November as a result.
