SMBC Aviation Capital has confirmed that Southwest Airlines is coming back to its customer portfolio as it has closed a significant Boeing 737 MAX lease deal, placing an order for 12 extra Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, with the first aircraft set for delivery in July 2019.
Southwest Airlines, the largest U.S. largest domestic carrier, transports over 120 million passengers every year and will use the new MAX aircraft across the carrier’s expanding network.
The latest deal is bringing Southwest’s order tally to 292 as it swaps out older jetliners for newer, larger and more fuel-efficient planes. The strategy has right for the carrier as the MAX is changing the game when it comes to efficiency. The company has calculated an efficiency increase of 1.3 percent when a route is flown by the MAX variant…
