Air Canada signs agreement to buy up to 109 Boeing 737 MAXs

by Devesh Agarwal

Boeing 737 MAX 9 final concept CGI rendering. Boeing image.

National carrier Air Canada has agreed to buy up to 109 Boeing 737 MAX single aisle narrow body aircraft as part of its fleet renewal plan. Boeing has wrested back an existing Airbus narrow-body customer as the MAXs will replace Air Canada's existing mainline fleet of Airbus A320 family.

The agreement with Boeing, which is subject to completion of final documentation and other conditions, includes firm orders for 33 737 MAX 8 (equivalent to A320) and 28 737 MAX 9 (equivalent to A321) aircraft with substitution rights between them as well as for the 737 MAX 7 (equivalent to A319) aircraft. It also provides for options for 18 aircraft and rights to purchase an additional 30. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2017 with 2 aircraft, 16 aircraft in 2018, 18 aircraft in 2019, 16 aircraft in 2020 and 9 aircraft in 2021, subject to deferral and acceleration rights.

With regards to the existing regional jets fleet, the airline said

Air Canada continues to evaluate the potential replacement of its Embraer E190 fleet with more cost efficient, larger narrowbody aircraft that are better suited to its current and future network strategy. Consistent with this strategy, the agreement with Boeing provides for Boeing to purchase up to 20 of the 45 Embraer E190 aircraft currently in Air Canada's fleet. The E190 aircraft exiting the fleet will be initially replaced with larger narrowbody leased aircraft until the airline takes delivery of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The company will be reviewing various options over the next six months for the remaining 25 Embraer E190 aircraft including continuing to operate them or replacing them with a yet to be determined number of aircraft in the 100 to 150 seat range.

Air Canada's plan is for its total fleet including Air Canada rouge™, but excluding aircraft flown by its contracted regional carriers, to grow from the existing 192 aircraft to approximately 214 aircraft by the end of 2019. Air Canada has 13 options and rights to purchase 10 Boeing 787 aircraft, rights to purchase 13 Boeing 777 aircraft as well as the 18 options and 30 purchase rights for Boeing MAX aircraft.