WestJet (WS, Calgary) has confirmed it has pushed back deliveries of its first B737-7 by two years.
The Canadian carrier said in its 2Q18 financial results that it had reached an agreement with Boeing (BOE, Washington National) during the quarter delaying the arrival of its first MAX 7s from 2019 to 2021.
WestJet said it had converted the four MAX 7s that would have arrived next year into B737-8s, while at the same time it had substituted four MAX 8s that were scheduled for delivery in 2026 and 2027 into MAX 7s. As it stands, its MAX 7 backlog will now see one aircraft of the type arrive in 2021 followed two in 2022/23 and the remaining 19 spread out between 2024-27.
Its revised MAX 8 delivery backlog now envisages four arriving during the current half of 2018 followed by six in 2019, two in 2021, and two in 2022-23. Its first B737-10s are still on track to arrive in 2022-23.
It is recalled that WestJet’s B737 MAX 7 and 8 aircraft orders can each be substituted for the other model of aircraft, or, beginning in 2022, for B737 MAX 10s.