After a far from ideal start to 2024, Boeing is working hard with its new CEO to rebuild passenger and customer trust. A good confidence boost will come from one of the manufacturer’s long-time clients renewing its fleet with new generation planes. El Al is looking in fact to renovate and expand its current fleet with a brand-new order placed with Boeing. Let’s find out all the details about the deal.
El Al Places an Order for Up To 31 Boeing 737 MAX
El Al, Israel’s flag carrier has just placed its largest aircraft order ever. Up to 31 Boeing 737 MAX jets will enter the El Al fleet in coming years. How many precisely will arrive isn’t certain as that up to lets us imagine that there is a firm portion of the deal and some options in the mix too. For whatever reason, the airline and Boeing have decided to keep that part of the deal undisclosed.
Also, what has not been published is which variants of the Boeing 737 MAX El Al has ordered and will receive. My take on that is there must be some sort of flexibility build into the deal in terms of which variants the airline will purchase. It depends a lot on the outcome of the type certification process, and the time that will take, for the 737 MAX 7 and 10. If these planes will get their type certification in a short time frame, then some might also head El Al’s way.
Replacing an Ageing Boeing 737 NG Fleet
El Al currently operates a 24-unit Boeing 737 NG fleet. That includes:
- 16 Boeing 737-800
- 8 Boeing 737-900
These planes are getting quite old as they now have an average age of 16 years. It is therefore time to think about replacing them. And that is exactly why El Al has placed this new order with Boeing. The new 737 MAX jets will allow to completely replace the older NG 737s and even expand the current fleet allowing the airline to enhance its services on medium and short haul flights.
El Al has once again reaffirmed its loyalty to Boeing with the new Boeing 737 order. I think it is both an operational reason, keeping the fleet streamlined, and a specification reason. Boeing has manufactured a long series of planes for El Al and knows what special safety specification the airline wants and expects. It would be quite a hustle for the Israeli airline to go over to a new supplier and start all over on those special requests.