Boeing’s MAX sales resurgence continued on the third day of the Dubai Airshow as the company announced a commitment from Air Astana for 30 MAXs and finalized a firm order behind the scenes for 20 more, Aviation Week confirmed. It also announced its first new widebody business, from Ghana’s new national carrier.
The Air Astana letter-of-intent, announced Nov. 19, is for 30 MAX 8s, which will be flown by the Kazak flag carrier’s FlyArystan low-cost subsidiary launched in May. Delivery dates were not disclosed.
The second deal, finalized by an unnamed customer, is for 10 MAX 7s and 10 MAX 10s, a person with knowledge of the deal confirmed. The customer plans to unveil the order in the coming weeks, the person said. Boeing declined to comment on the 20-aircraft order.
Air Astana launched in 2002 with a pair of 737NGs, but currently has none in its mixed fleet of 37 Airbus, Boeing, and Embraer aircraft.
“Today we operate both 757s and 767s and we believe that the MAX will provide a solid platform for the growth of FlyArystan throughout our region, once the aircraft has successfully returned to service,” President and CEO Peter Foster said.
The deals announced in Dubai, including a 10-aircraft SunExpress firm order, represent a major boost to what has been a sagging MAX backlog. The reported total of undelivered aircraft has been falling despite Boeing not recording any deliveries since the MAX global fleet’s mid-March global grounding following two fatal accidents in less than five months.
While Boeing has denied that airlines have cancelled MAX orders as a result of the crisis, the order backlog has fallen despite the fact that deliveries were paused in mid-March. Jet Airways’ collapse removed about 125, but other changes, including some swaps to other models, pushed the decline to about 200.
The SunExpress deal was the first announced MAX firm order since the crisis started. Boeing has booked several others by undisclosed customers, including one MAX business jet.
International Airlines Group announced an intent to buy 200 at the Paris Air Show in June, but the deal has not been finalized.
The MAX remains grounded, and deliveries paused, while Boeing finalizes mandated changes to the aircraft’s flight control system and training. Regulators, led by the FAA, have not committed to a timeline for completing their review of the changes, though Boeing has expressed optimism that initial approvals would come by the end of the year.
Separately, Boeing on Nov. 19 unveiled a memorandum of understanding for three 787-9 from Ghana’s government. Ghana is working with Ethiopian Airlines to set up a new national carrier that will be based in Accra. 
The Ghana deal is Boeing’s first new widebody business unveiled at the show. Earlier, it named Biman Bangladesh as the customer for two undisclosed 787s added to the company’s backlog in October, and highlighted EgyptAir’s decision to lease two additional 787-9s from AerCap that are in the lessor’s order book.