Alaska Airways has staked its future on the Boeing 737 MAX – and on Wednesday positioned a big order for extra jets.

The truth is, the Seattle-based service mentioned the order, for 52 Boeing 737 MAX 9s and 10s, is Boeing’s largest order in firm historical past. The corporate at the moment operates 35 737 MAX plane and expects to take supply of 43 extra by the top of 2023. The settlement contains buy rights for 105 further plane past the 52 agency orders.

With the brand new order, Alaska may have 250 737 MAXs in its fleet by 2030, although the airline famous it has some flexibility with the deal to “match our deliveries to economics whereas preserving our place within the manufacturing chain”.

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“This funding secures plane to optimize our progress over the subsequent decade, which we all know will likely be an amazing aggressive benefit,” Alaska Airways CEO Ben Minicucci mentioned in a press release. making this dedication to our future, and the incredible partnership we share with our native plane producer at Boeing.

The order is for 42,737 MAX 10s and 10,737 MAX 9s, and the corporate mentioned it has the flexibleness to alter this distribution sooner or later to adapt to market circumstances. The 737 MAX 10 faces an important year-end certification deadline that Boeing is bound to overlook.

The issue is the shortage of a crew alert system on the 737 MAX and a federal regulation that requires plane licensed after the top of this yr to incorporate one. With Boeing prone to miss that deadline, the corporate probably wants Congress to go laws exempting the 737 MAX from the deadline. Minicucci final week got here out in favor of a derogation.

“I believe the -10 will likely be licensed,” he instructed CNBC.

As Boeing builds its 737 MAX 10 backlog, particularly with orders from US carriers — Delta Air Traces additionally ordered the bigger MAX variant this summer season, and United Airways has 250 on order — the corporate is probably going growing the stress. coverage on Congress for the exemption.

After: Blockbuster Boeing: Delta indicators contract for 100 737 MAX 10 plane

Alaska has lengthy been a 737 operator and has flown all 4 generations of the venerable Boeing. The airline additionally at the moment operates a dwindling fleet of Airbus plane that it acquired via its 2016 merger with Virgin America however plans to retire its final A320s by January and its A321neos by the top of subsequent yr. Alaska’s 737s have “proudly all Boeing” painted on the ahead fuselage – a nickname that can once more be totally true.