Summary
- Southwest Airlines expects its Boeing 737 MAX 7 aircraft to be certified in April and to begin flying for the carrier around October or November 2024, adding some buffer time to their estimates.
- The certification of the MAX 7 relies on resolving open items with the FAA, and Boeing’s CEO is working closely with the FAA to supply them with the flexibleness they need.
- Southwest, the most important customer for the MAX 7, has greater than 300 of those aircraft on order and plans so as to add 108 more to its order book. The MAX 7 will provide the carrier with flexibility and capability to satisfy demand across the USA and beyond.
The world’s largest low-cost carrier, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, eagerly awaits the certification of its upcoming Boeing 737 MAX 7 aircraft. Nonetheless, it still doesn’t expect these to take to the skies in blue, yellow, and red until almost this time next 12 months.
Boeing is currently working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on resolving current open items depending on certification. Southwest is adding a buffer of time to once they expect the aircraft to take flight finally.
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Southwest, which will probably be the most important customer for the MAX 7, has greater than 300 of the variant on order, with deliveries expected to proceed into the subsequent decade. The carrier announced its plans so as to add 108 MAX 7 to its order book only last month. Once airborne, the aircraft will probably be configured to hold as much as 150 passengers across the USA and beyond.
Certification by April?
Boeing has publically stated that it hopes to have the MAX 7 certified by the tip of 2023, and Boeing’s CEO is giving all he’s got to make sure that the FAA has “all the flexibleness they need,” as reported by Reuters. Nonetheless, the Chief Operating Officer at Southwest is not convinced, so he has added some ‘padding’ to their estimates as they plan next 12 months’s operations.
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In an interview with Reuters, the Southwest COO, Andrew Watterston, mentioned they don’t desire to delay any of its expansion plans, so reiterated:
“For our internal planning purposes, we assume it’ll be certified in April after which flying for us within the October-November time-frame,”
With this, the carrier expects the aircraft will probably be allowed to begin flying for Southwest by around October or November 2024. Introducing the variant into the carrier’s fleet will provide flexibility to supply sufficient capability subject to demand throughout any day of the week. Nonetheless, recent delays within the certification of the MAX 7 have meant Southwest decided to convert multiple orders for the MAX 7 to the larger and more popular MAX 8.
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Safety First
As noted by Reuters, the FAA declined to comment on the expected certification of the MAX 7, citing that “safety dictates the timeline of certification projects.” With this, the MAX 7 and 10 are working through the necessities set out by the FAA within the hope of first deliveries next 12 months. Once certified, the 7 and 10 are poised to supply stiff competition to Airbus within the narrowbody market. While Southwest has put the larger MAX 8 to good use, analysts have identified that flooding the market with extra unnecessary capability can hurt the airline’s overall bottom line.
Easy Flying reached out to Boeing, and so they directed us to remarks made within the Q3 earnings call, with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun stating:
“We’re progressing across our business programs and our timelines are unchanged on the 737-7 and the 737-10 and the 777X and 777-8 Freighter. A reminder, as all the time, the FAA will ultimately control the timing. the FAA makes that decision. And we’re going to provide all of them the flexibleness they need. We attempt to interpret it the perfect we will and that is what we have done. Know that there have not been any real changes to the airplanes.”
Sources: Reuters