Alaska Airlines orders 23 incremental B737 MAX 9s

Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma Int’l) has ordered an additional twenty-three B737-9s, increasing its order book from Boeing and lessors to a total of 68 of the narrowbodies. The new agreement also includes options for another 15 of the type. Following the restructuring of the carrier’s commitment with Boeing, Alaska Airlines is now set to receive the first thirteen B737-9s in 2021 with its first revenue service tentatively planned for March 2021. By the peak of the summer season, Alaska Airlines hopes to operate six B737-9s. The remaining aircraft on firm order will see 30 deliver in 2022, 13 in 2023, and 12 in 2024. The carrier plans to take fifty-five B737-9s directly from the manufacturer and the remaining 13 from lessors. Including the 15 newly added options, Alaska Airlines now holds options for a total of fifty-two B737-9s due for potential delivery between 2023 and 2026. The deliveries of B737-9s will allow the carrier to fully retire its fleet of fifty-one A320-200s (of which 12 have been permanently parked) by the end of 2023. The carrier inherited the Airbus narrowbodies during the takeover of Virgin America (VX, San Francisco, CA). Earlier this year, Alaska Airlines retired all ten inherited A319-100s. However, it said it would retain ten A321-200Ns, also inherited from Virgin America (although only four were delivered prior to the acquisition and the remaining six delivered to Alaska Airlines directly). Although Alaska Airlines ordered its first batch of thirty-two B737-9s in 2012, it did not take a single unit prior to the March 2019 grounding of the type. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, besides the A320s and A321neo, Alaska Airlines operates eleven B737-700s, three B737-700(BDSF)s, sixty-one B737-800s, twelve B737-900s, and seventy-nine B737-900(ER)s.