Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma International) took delivery of its first B737-800(BCF) on October 12, 2023, and plans to press it into service next month to boost its Alaskan cargo network.
Post P2F conversion by COOPESA, N584AS (msn 35682) was ferried from San José Juan Santamaría via Brownsville to Oklahoma City Will Rogers World, where the Seattle-based carrier has a maintenance facility, on October 13, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.
The 16.2-year-old jet is owned by BBAM, which acquired it from Alaska Airlines under a 2022 sale-and-leaseback deal. It was in service with the carrier as a passenger B737-800 between 2007 and May 2023, according to the ch-aviation fleets history module. It is the first of two B737-800(BCF)s the airline will lease from BBAM. The second, N583AS (msn 35681), is currently undergoing P2F conversion with KF Aerospace in Kelowna, also under the Boeing STC.
The airline told Cargo Facts the second B737-800(BCF) is scheduled to deliver in February 2024.
"These additional aircraft will nearly double our current cargo capacity and extend the range of our network for our customers," said Adam Drouhard, managing director of Alaska Air Cargo.
The two -800(BCF)s will join Alaska Airlines' existing freighter fleet of three B737-700(BDSF)s. The carrier's passenger fleet of B737 aircraft comprises eleven B737-700s, fifty-nine B737-800s, fifty-six B737-9s, twelve B737-900s, and seventy-nine B737-900ERs, the ch-aviation fleets module shows.
