Russian aircraft leasing company Avia Capital Services (ACS-Aero) said on Tuesday that it has filed the first U.S. lawsuit to cancel an order for 35 Boeing 737 MAX jets, Gazeta.ru writes citing a Financial Times report.
The company is a subsidiary of state-owned Russian conglomerate Rostec. It said it was the first civil action brought by a customer against the U.S. aerospace giant over the 737 Max.
The FT reported that ACS had filed the suit in Chicago claiming that Boeing had “intentionally” failed to disclose information about the airworthiness of the jet to its customers.
It accuses Boeing of negligence in selling the “defective” aircraft. ACS-Aero is seeking $115 million in compensatory damages, and several times that amount in punitive damages, the Financial Times reported.
A spokesman for the company told Reuters that delivery of the jets was first scheduled for October 2019 but was moved to March 2022. The Rostec unit had paid Boeing a deposit and was suffering losses from non-delivery, he said.
“If Boeing executives show a good will, we are ready to hold talks and find a mutually-beneficial out-of-court settlement for compensation of the losses we have suffered,” he said.
He added that the jets were ordered for a number of Russian air companies, including domestic low-cost firm Pobeda, a unit of the state carrier Aeroflot.
