Alaska Airlines receives its very first Boeing 737 MAX
Alaska Airlines celebrated the delivery of its first Boeing 737 MAX on January 25. The aircraft, a 737-9, will enter service on March 1 on routes from Seattle to San Diego and Los Angeles.
Alaska Airlines expects 68 Boeing 737 MAX 9s in the next four years and has options on 52 additional aircraft. Thirteen are planned for 2021, thirty for 2022, thirteen for 2023 and twelve for 2024.
They must replace the Airbus fleet, inherited from the merger with Virgin America.
Alaska Airlines points out that the first aircraft will be used for the next five weeks for pilot training. They will have to carry out demonstration flights to check the aircraft’s systems and undergo specific training.
The American company specifies that its technicians will also have to follow a 40-hour training course on the differences between the 737 MAX and the 737 NG, as well as a specific forty-hour training course also on the engines and avionics systems.