Final Word from Wednesday, March 27, 2019

The Czech affected the most by the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft is Jiří Šimáně. As owner of Smartwings and ČSA, he must figure out how to work around his seven grounded Max 8 planes and start developing a crisis strategy for the 39 Maxes he has on order. No one can expect him to take airplanes that are grounded, he told LN. That makes sense, even if there are confidential contractual terms that outsiders can't possibly know. Who would open his wallet for an expensive means of transportation that can't perform the task of moving people from Point A to Point B? Why, Czech Railways, of course. Prague Municipal Court upheld a ruling last week of the Arbitration Court that required the state-owned railroad to pay Škoda Transportation an extra Kč 1.2bn in penalties and interest for InterPanter trains that were delivered late and didn't work. It's no coincidence that many of the same players are popping up in the scandal around Kapsch and the ÚOHS antitrust office. Šimáně can only hope his own dispute doesn't go before a Czech court that requires him to pay a penalty to Boeing. [ Czech Republic 737 MAX 8 airline Lidové noviny ]