Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci announced he's "not overly concerned" about Boeing's latest Max 10 delay. This is the same aircraft that's been delayed so many times it qualifies for Social Security benefits.
The Max 10 was supposed to get certified years ago. Then it wasn't. Then it was supposed to be certified again. Then it wasn't again. Now Boeing says maybe later, and Minicucci responded with the corporate equivalent of a shrug emoji.
He's not overly concerned. Just regularly concerned. The normal amount of concern you'd have when the planes you ordered to run your airline don't exist yet and might never exist in the form you ordered them. That level of concern. Perfectly reasonable.
Boeing keeps missing deadlines like a retail trader keeps missing the bottom. The difference is the retail trader eventually runs out of money. Boeing just gets more government contracts.
Minicucci has 52 Max 10s on order. Planes that were supposed to arrive already. Planes that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Planes that generate zero revenue while sitting in Boeing's imagination. But he's cool about it. Very zen. Must be nice running an airline with investor money instead of your own.
The Max 10 needs FAA certification. The FAA is taking its time because the last time Boeing rushed a Max variant through the process, two of them fell out of the sky and killed 346 people. Minor hiccup in the product roadmap.
Alaska Airlines stock didn't move on the news because investors have been hearing about Max delays since the Obama administration. They're numb to it now. Acceptance is the final stage of grief.
Minicucci's compensation last year was over $10 million, which buys a lot of not being overly concerned about things that would bankrupt you personally in about eleven seconds.
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