Let’s face it, it hasn’t been easy times for Boeing. The past few years, I would go as far back as a decade, have been a disaster for the American manufacturer. The firm has lost clients, seen its reputation take a hit and also loose stock market value. However, just as Christmas is knocking on the door, santa brought a big gift early to Boeing. It comes all the way from Turkey, precisely from the LCC Pegasus.
Pegasus Orders up to 200 Boeing 737 MAX – Boosting Boeing’s Morale
The news must have put some big and lasting smiles on Boeing’s management and sales team. Not only did they sell a massive number of planes to a single client, but they did so while snatching them away from their main rival.
Pegasus Airlines, also known as flypgs, has placed a firm order for 100 Boeing 737 MAX 10 with an option to add on top of that another 100 units. That means up to 200 planes to a single client. It’s a huge deal for Boeing which much needed an order of this sort to feel the momentum changing after its management change earlier this year.
Pegasus, although having started up operations over 35 years ago operating Boeing 737 Classic planes, has been a sole Airbus A320 family aircraft operator for quite some time. Therefore, Boeing managed to pull them away from their main rivals and competitors Airbus.
The Boeing 737-10 (or Boeing 737 MAX 10) is the largest aircraft of the family capable of seating up to 230 passengers in a one class configuration (such as Pegasus’) over distances up to 5,700km (or 3,100 miles). Its number of seat and cabin density make it ideal for ultra low cost carriers.
No indication though on when deliveries will stat to take place, and for good reason.
Hoping Finally The Aircraft Gets Its Certification in 2025
The reason is that the Boeing 737-10 although it is racking up orders, still has to complete its certification process. It will not be allowed to enter commercial service until the process is complete (same goes for the smaller 737-7). All indications push in the direction of the aircraft finally exiting the process sometime in 2025 Q1. That is if there aren’t any further delays as has happened over and over in the past few years.
Once the aircraft is ready to enter service we will probably have some precise indication on when the first Boeing 737 MAX 10 will head over to Turkey to join the Pegasus fleet.