Alaska Airlines has placed an order for a whopping 52 Boeing 737-MAX jets. The airline made the announcement a couple of days ago about their intention to add more Boeing 737 Max to their fleet.
Of the 52 Boeing 737-MAX on order, Alaska Airlines said 42 will be MAX-10s while the remaining 10 will be MAX-9s. Boeing expects to deliver the jets to Alaska Airlines between 2024 to 2027. After the delivery is completed, the airline expects to increase its fleet of the MAX jet from 94 to 146. This of course will only hold true if the FAA certifies the MAX 7s and MAX-10s.
On October 26, 2022, Boeing added the MAX-7 to “at-risk status” with the MAX-10 for cancellations over FAA certifications.
“If the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act (ACSAA) deadline is not amended [beyond Dec. 27 this year] and we otherwise fail to achieve certification, we might choose to discontinue the MAX 7 and/or MAX 10, resulting in future earnings charges and other financial impacts. We may be able to partially mitigate some of these financial impacts to the extent that customers exercise substitution rights into MAX 8 and/or MAX 9 aircraft,” Boeing wrote in its 10Q two days ago.
Assuming that the FAA certifies the MAX-7s and the MAX-10s, then Alaska Airlines will be able to operate a fleet of up to 250 Boeing 737-MAX type of aircraft by the year 2030. This is because currently, the airline already operates 35 Boeing 737-MAX-9 jets and is expecting 15 MAX-8 jets by 2023.
“This investment secures aircraft to optimize our growth through the next decade, which we know will be a formidable competitive advantage,” said Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci in a media statement. “We’re proud of the strong financial foundation that uniquely positions Alaska to make this commitment to our future, and of the fantastic partnership we share with our hometown aircraft manufacturer at Boeing.”
Below is a video of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft taking off. The plane with registration number N579AS is taking off from the Portland, Oregon Airport (PDX).
After all is delivered, here is the breakdown of the aircraft Alaska Airlines will have on its fleet: 10 MAX-8s, 88 MAX-9s, 153 MAX-10s for a combined total of 251 Boeing 737 MAX fleet. Of course of the 153 MAX-10s, about 105 of them will be delivered by 2030. Again this assumes that Alaska does not modify the current order options.
