Canadian carrier WestJet Airlines plans to add three more leased Boeing 737 Max 8s to its fleet, for a total of nine of the narrowbodies added in the past six months.
WestJet said on 6 September that it will acquire the aircraft through Irish lessor SMBC Aviation Capital, as part of a strategy to offset “delays for direct-from-factory aircraft”.
”With this we have taken on all nine aircraft that were flying for a Canadian airline that exited the market earlier this year,” chief executive Alexis von Hoensbroech said in a social media post. ”All these airplanes will enter into service over the next few months.”
Cirium fleets data show that the 737 Max 8s added to WestJet’s fleet were previously operated by now-defunct ultra-low-cost carrier Lynx Air, which collapsed in February amid rising costs and intense competition.
The Calgary-based carrier holds an order book of 61 undelivered Max jets, including the yet-to-be-certificated Max 7 and Max 10 variants, in addition to several Max 8s.
With Boeing’s ongoing delivery delays holding up its fleet growth plans, WestJet has pivoted to taking next-generation Boeing narrowbodies from Chinese lessors such as AerDragon and BOC Aviation.
The incoming Max 8s will not immediately conform to the cabin configuration of WestJet’s other 737s, but are expected to converted to the “standard WestJet layout within the next year or so”, says von Hoensbroech.
WestJet operates an all-Boeing fleet of 33 737 Max aircraft, 78 older 737NGs and seven 787 Dreamliners, Cirium fleets data show.
