Southwest Airlines increases Boeing 737 Max order

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8. Photo: © Glenn Beltz

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has announced that it is exercising options to order an additional 34 Boeing 737 Max 7 aircraft.

The worlds biggest low-cost carrier announced a firm order for 100 Boeing 737 Max back in March, including the option for a further 155 jets. Today’s announcement firms 34 of those options, bringing the total aircraft on firm order with Southwest Airlines to 383. This consists of 234 Max 7 and 149 Max 8 variants, further solidifying the airline’s title of the world’s largest customer of the Boeing 737 Max.

At present, Southwest Airlines has taken delivery of 67 Boeing 737 Max 8, with the first Max 7 due for delivery in 2022. Deliveries of Boeing’s current most popular aircraft type were halted after the international grounding of the type in 2019 following the fatal crashes of Lion Air flight JT610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302. The aircraft underwent major modifications in order to rectify the design flaws that led to the two crashes and subsequent loss of 346 people. The aircraft returned to service in late 2020 after receiving certification by the FAA in November 2020.

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