The busiest air carrier at McCarran International Airport today announced plans to be the first customer for Boeing’s newest version of the twin-engine 737 jet.
Southwest Airlines will be first to fly Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft, with the initial deliveries of the plane expected in 2017.
At a cost of $19 billion, it’s the largest aircraft order in Boeing’s history. Southwest placed a firm order of 150 of the MAX jets.
The new style of jet will have minor modifications to the airframe and new fuel-efficient CFM International LEAP-1B engines. Boeing says the new engines will enable planes to operate about 10 percent more efficiently with less fuel burn and reduced carbon dioxide emissions.
“Today’s environment demands that we become more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly and as the launch customer of the Boeing 737 MAX, we have accomplished both,” Southwest Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly said in a news release announcing the order.
“We are teaming up with our friends from Boeing to lead the industry in a way that makes both our shareholders and our customers proud to associate with Southwest Airlines. Today’s announcement will allow us to maintain our position as a low-cost provider in the years ahead,” Kelly said.
With orders already on the books, Southwest will get 355 new jets between 2012 and 2027.
The 737 MAX aircraft will come in 737-700-series and 737-800-series models called the 737 MAX 7 and MAX 8. The capacities of the planes — 138 seats on MAX 7’s and 189 on MAX 8’s — are the same as the models they’ll replace.
Southwest has a history of being a launch customer for Boeing and was the first to fly the -300, -500 and -700 series versions of the jet.
Earlier this year, Southwest announced that it would acquire larger capacity Boeing 737-800 jets and Kelly said Las Vegas would be one of the cities the larger planes would be used.
Today’s announcement on the MAX jet order detailed that the airline would take delivery of 33 of the larger jets next year and have the flexibility to take 150 of either size from 2018 to 2022.
It’s too early to tell what impact the new, higher-capacity jets would have on the number of seats coming into the Las Vegas market.
About 59 percent of daily flights to McCarran are on 737 jets.