Alaska Airlines are increasing their fleet, with the addition of ten Boeing 737-900ER aircraft to its fleet in an order with airframer.
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900ER, Image Alaska Airlines
In terms of size, this is the largest currently in the 737 family, with the extra range tanks installed to allow for long trans-continental flights with full loads.
The extra ten aircraft will be used to accelerate the withdrawal of older Boeing 737-400 aircraft, as well as expand the airlines footprint at its Seattle home.
The aircraft have a list price of US$990 million… although show me the airline that pays list price for aircraft.
These aircraft will be configured with 181 seats aboard with First and Economy class products installed, split into:
- 16 first class seats
- 165 economy seats
In addition these aircraft are promised with larger overhead bins and power at each seat installed on these new planes.
Alaska Airlines have a total of 74 aircraft on order with Boeing – and are an “all Boeing operator”, operating variants of the Boeing 737 family in its fleet currently (totalling 136 aircraft in service), with orders for more 737-900ERs, 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9 series planes.
It’s good to see this airline expand and offer more services (as well as being a source of Emirates First Class redemptions it seems), and using aircraft its familiar with will help reduce costs… which if we’re lucky, we’ll see in the bottom line of an airfare ticket.
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