Alaska Airlines makes big Boeing 737 Max order in first US sales since lifting of flight ban

Alaska Airlines has agreed to buy nearly two dozen additional Boeing 737 Max planes, the first order from a US carrier since regulators cleared the planes to fly again last month after two deadly crashes. Alaska said Tuesday it will buy 68 of the 737 Max 9 planes, up from the 32 it had previously ordered. Alaska will buy 23 of them from Boeing and lease 13 others from Air Lease. Alaska also announced options to buy 52 other Max planes. The FAA lifted its grounding order that was put in place after two nearly new Max jetliners crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing all 346 people aboard the flights. Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden declined to disclose terms of the deal but said that nine of the Max jetliners it is buying are so-called white tails, planes that have been built but don’t have an owner. The order by Alaska, which is based in Seattle, near Boeing’s Max production plant, will transition the carrier to a nearly all-Boeing fleet in coming years, a move Tilden says will save the company on maintenance and other costs, crucial as the carrier races to cut expenses due to depressed travel demand in the pandemic. Last week, Alaska forecast its December revenue and passenger traffic would be down as much as 70% from a year ago. “We said: What is it we can do to fundamentally and permanently take advantage of this crisis and improve the competitive position of Alaska?” said Tilden. “We said if we can largely get back to a single fleet, that would be in our interest.”<br/>