Watch Now


Alaska Airlines bets on recovery with 737 MAX buy

Carrier to expand fleet by 30 aircraft

Alaska Airlines received its first Boeing 737 MAX in January. (Photo: Alaska Airlines)

Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK) will add 30 mainline and regional aircraft during the next three years, including 13 Boeing 737 MAX jets, the company said Wednesday in a show of confidence about prospects for a domestic travel recovery.

The parent company of Alaska Airlines said it expects its domestic passenger business to return to pre-COVID levels by the summer of 2022, which will require more aircraft.

Alaska is exercising options for the 13 Boeing 737-9 MAX for delivery in 2023 and 2024, and is adding 17 new Embraer 175 jets in 2022 and 2023. Eight of the Embraer 175s are actually being purchased by regional capacity provider SkyWest, which will also operate them for Alaska. The other nine will be operated by Alaska subsidiary Horizon Air.

Alaska Airlines received its first two 737-MAX from Boeing (NYSE: BA) earlier this year and both entered service in March. 


In December, Alaska added 23 firm orders and 15 options to its overall order with Boeing. The airline has committed to take 68 MAX jets, including 13 that it will lease from an asset management company.

The 68 Boeing aircraft will mostly replace Alaska’s single-aisle Airbus fleet as the company opts for a single fleet type that is more economical to operate.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is likely that Alaska received favorable pricing as aircraft manufacturers look to regain business destroyed by the pandemic as airlines shrank and canceled, or postponed, orders to preserve cash.

The 737 MAX returned to service in the U.S. in December after a 20-month flight ban resulting from the deadly crash of two jets because of faulty flight control software that has since been corrected. 


Narrow-body jets do not carry huge amounts of cargo, but help keep commerce flowing because their frequent schedules in passenger networks help when companies need to move smaller shipments.

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

RELATED NEWS:

Strong balance sheet, fed bailout put Alaska Airlines on recovery path

Alaska Airlines modernizes fleet with deal for more 737 MAX jets

Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He won Environmental Journalist of the Year from the Seahorse Freight Association in 2014 and was the group's 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. In December 2022, he was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist by the Seahorse Freight Association. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. Eric is based in Portland, Oregon. He can be reached for comments and tips at [email protected]