Alaska Airlines orders 110 Boeing planes for expansion plan

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Alaska Airlines is ordering 110 new Boeing planes, the largest single order in the airline’s history, the carrier said Wednesday.

The deal comes two years almost to the day of the Jan. 5, 2024, midair blowout of a door plug involving a new Alaska 737 MAX 9 plane produced by Arlington County-based Boeing.

Seeking to expand, the airline said it is ordering 105 737 MAX 10 planes and five new 787-10 jets and acquiring options for another 35 737 MAX 10 airplanes. The additional planes will help increase its fleet to more than 475 airplanes by 2030 and more than 550 aircraft by 2035, up from the current 413, the carrier added.

The five additional 787 Dreamliners will help the carrier expand its service to Europe and Asia.

“This fleet investment builds on the strong foundation Alaska has created to support steady, scalable and sustained growth, and is another building block in executing our Alaska Accelerate strategic plan,” said Alaska Air Group CEO and President Ben Minicucci.

“This is a historic airplane order underwritten by Alaska Airlines’ record of strong performance and strategic expansion. All of us at Boeing are proud of Alaska’s success and are honored they have placed their trust in our people and our 737 and 787 airplanes to help grow their airline,” Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement.

In 2024, Alaska, the fifth-largest domestic U.S. airline, acquired Hawaiian Airlines, the 10th largest carrier, in a $1.9 billion deal.

Alaska is exercising 52 existing options for MAX 10 airplanes and placing orders for 53 new planes.

Boeing, which currently offers the MAX 8 and MAX 9 for sale, has struggled for years to win FAA approval for the new versions of the MAX – the shorter MAX 7 and longer 10. The planemaker has faced delays in the certification of those models due to an engine de-icing issue.

In October, the FAA gave Boeing approval to raise its 737 MAX production to 42 planes per month, ending a 38-plane cap in place since January 2024. The FAA imposed the unprecedented production cap shortly after a 2024 mid-air emergency involving a new Alaska 737 MAX 9 that was missing four key bolts in a door plug, causing a gaping hole to open in the fuselage at 16,000 feet. The incident revealed widespread production safety and quality lapses at Boeing.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington. Editing by David Goodman and Elaine Hardcastle)

Virginia Business Deputy Editor Kate Andrews contributed to this article.