Alaska Airlines has put in its biggest airplane order ever, and it’s all Boeing 737 Max models. The deal is firm for 52 planes and includes rights to another 105.
The first batch will be delivered starting in 2024, and if all options are taken all will be delivered by 2030. Potentially, taking all orders into consideration, by 2030, Alaska could be operating as many as 250 Max planes.
However, not all the orders are to bulk up the fleet. Alaska, which has traditionally been all-737 for its mainline planes, has 40 Airbus A320/A321 planes inherited when it acquired Virgin America, and intends to phase them out during 2023. It will also be replacing some of its older 737NG models as time goes on.
The contracts allow Alaska to shift among the 737-8, 737-9 and 737-10 as needed over the course of the order.
