Southwest Airlines Orders 100 Boeing 737 MAX

Southwest Airlines' Boeing 737 MAX 8 at Los Angeles Airport - Photo: AirTeamImages.com - Simon Willson

On March 29th, Boeing and Southwest Airlines signed an order for the Boeing 737 MAX 7 aircraft family and the smaller member of the 737 MAX family.

The airline and the American manufacturer have stated an agreement for 100 firm orders and 155 with purchase options, coming to a value of U$28.05 billion given each aircraft's price.

Southwest currently has a total of 200 firm orders for the Boeing 737 MAX 7 and 180 for its sibling: the Boeing 737 MAX 8, and with 280 purchase options for both aircraft models.

With this, Southwest currently has 600 aircraft on order for the model, 30 of which have been delivered. As a strategic fleet plan, Southwest intends to incorporate more Boeing 737 MAXs into its fleet. And the delivery of all these aircraft is planned from 2021 to 2031.

Fleet Renewal 

One of the reasons for ordering so many Boeing 737 MAX aircraft is that the new fleet will replace the Boeing 737-700 NG. The new generation aircraft can offer 14% savings over the previous generation model. 

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 (N7832A) at Miami International Airport - Photo: AirTeamImages.com - Steven Marquez

Southwest Airlines' Boeing 737 fleet in Phoenix - Sky Harbor Airport, USA. Photo: AirTeamImages.com - Markus Mainka

Before this order from Southwest Airlines, the Boeing 737 MAX 7 was the least successful aircraft in the MAX family. But the game has changed, and it is now one of the units with the highest number of units sold so far.

Southwest Airlines fleet utilization statistics on the RadarBox: 

Southwest Airlines Route Heatmap on the RadarBox: 

Southwest Airlines Statistics - March 26th - April 1st