Turkish leisure carrier SunExpress has signed a firm order for ten additional Boeing 737 MAX 8.
With this, the airline exercises all ten options from a previous deal with Boeing. SunExpress first ordered 737 MAX aircraft in early-2014. Combined, it now has a total of 42 planes of this type on order with the American manufacturer.
The new purchase, announced at the Dubai Airshow 2019, is worth US $1.2 billion in current list prices.
SunExpress is only the second carrier signing for the 737 MAX since the aircraft’s grounding which started in March following two deadly crashes. In June, British Airways parent IAG became the first airline company to endorse the 737 MAX, when it signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for 200 of the type.
The Turkish holiday airline, which is a joint-venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, says it plans to phase the 737 MAX into its fleet for its ‘economic and ecological advantages’.
Together with its German subsidiary SunExpress Deutschland, SunExpress’ fleet consists of around 60 737 NG airplanes. Further aircraft are operated in wet-lease contracts for or by other airlines. The first 737 MAX aircraft which were due to be delivered to the airline are currently delayed due to the ongoing worldwide grounding.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
