2021 was a year of recovery, but it was also a year of resurgence for the Boeing 737 MAX family of aircraft. As the MAX’s return to service gained speed, so did orders, and so did the way airlines used the aircraft. As the 737 MAX came back into schedules and to the skies, the power and flexibility of the 737 MAX in network planning and stage length came to light and the versatility of the 737 MAX started to gain major attention.

A big year for Boeing 737 MAX orders

Part of the resurgence of the 737 MAX came from new aircraft orders. Boeing recorded 749 gross new orders across the 737 MAX family in 2021. A major feat for Boeing was clocking orders for over 75 of each of the major variants, ranging from the smallest 737-7 to the largest 737-10 from a wide variety of airlines.

Among those 749 gross orders, several airlines placed major aircraft orders. Several even followed up on their initial 2021 orders by exercising their options or placing incremental new orders. Several placed orders for multiple variants.

United Airlines was the top customer for the MAX. In 2021, the airline ordered a whopping 258 brand new 737 MAX aircraft. This included 200 under the headline-making “United Next” plan unveiled in June. It also ordered 25 in March and placed incremental orders throughout the year. This included orders for the larger 737 MAX 10 that will be part of the airline’s strategy of increasing gauge.

Next on the list of major aircraft orders was the prolific Boeing 737 operator Southwest Airlines. With 147 MAX orders placed in 2021, the carrier primarily focused on the 737 MAX 7, which will be part of its fleet renewal and expansion goals. This included several rounds of incremental orders placed by exercising options. Southwest continues to weigh its options, though some of the commentaries from the airline indicate it is more likely than not to exercise them.

Outside the United States, Indian startup Akasa placed orders for 72 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, giving the American aircraft manufacturer a win in India, a market where some of the largest low-cost carriers have traditionally sided with Airbus over Boeing.

Lessors also took note of the 737 MAX in 2021. 777 Partners placed orders for a total of 68 MAX jets. Some of these aircraft will go to Flair Airlines, which is a low-cost carrier in Canada, and is excited about the opportunities to fly the aircraft.

Back in the US, Boeing also won major orders from Alaska Airlines and Allegiant. Alaska ordered a total of 57 MAX jets in 2021. This included firming up an order announced in December 2020 and a few rounds of incremental options. Allegiant, on the other hand, placed an order for 50 aircraft just before the end of 2021 that gave Boeing its first order from an American ultra-low-cost carrier. Boeing won the order to power the airline’s next round of growth and fleet renewal.

The growing importance of the Boeing 737 MAX

While orders tell a story of customer demand, how airlines have used the aircraft tells the story of what they view to be some of the most important aspects of the jets. Looking closely at the United States, several airlines showed more than they told their appreciation of the MAX.

American Airlines, for example, was one of the first airlines to bring the MAX back into service, and it started taking delivery of them after the grounding ended. In January 2021, American Airlines flew 588 commercial flights on the 737 MAX, which came out to 90,366,392 available seat miles (ASMs), according to data from Cirium. ASMs are an industry metric of capacity. Of the over 110,000 flights and 12 billion ASMs American flew, the MAX made up a very small proportion of operations for American in 2021.

By December, things changed. American scheduled 4,563 flights on the 737 MAX, coming out to just over 956 million ASMs, coming out to roughly 4.5% of the airline’s overall capacity (including regional operations). However, looking closely at one of American’s key MAX hubs in Miami, the story changes a little.

In December, American had scheduled 1,970 MAX flights out of Miami alone, coming out to over 395 million ASMs. As a percentage of overall operations, the MAX flew 18.7% of flights and made up 18.6% of the airline’s capacity out of Miami. Another very interesting aspect of this is to see just where American flew the MAX out of Miami in December:

Southwest Airlines has bet big on the Boeing 737 MAX. It resumed flights with the MAX in March. However, by December, the delivery of new MAX jets plus other developments allowed Southwest to grow its use of the 737 MAX in its network. In December, according to data from Cirium, Southwest flew 8,458 MAX flights, coming out to over 1.5 billion ASMs. This worked out to roughly 8.5% of the airline’s overall flights, but a sizable 12.9% of its overall capacity.

Southwest Airlines has repeatedly highlighted the benefits of the 737 MAX, but one such market that proves the airline’s overall satisfaction with the 737 MAX is Hawaii. In December, 50.8% of flights touching Hawaii were scheduled on the 737 MAX, but the MAX 8 made up 62.5% of its overall capacity by ASMs, largely because of the way Southwest used the MAX in its network to Hawaii:

It is not necessarily surprising that Southwest has heavily used the aircraft to Hawaii. While some aircraft, like the 737-800, will still run some flights to Hawaii and do more of the inter-island flights, the MAX 8 is what has enabled Southwest to expand to Hawaii from some of its larger bases like Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Another airline that has used the aircraft heavily to Hawaii is Alaska Airlines. The Seattle-based airline has hubs across the West Coast, but like Southwest, the MAX has had a sizable role in Alaska’s network to Hawaii, and it has progressively grown since Alaska inaugurated MAX operations in March.

In December, Alaska scheduled 648 flights on the MAX. This was just 2% of the airline’s departures, though the aircraft made up roughly 4.3% of its capacity, according to Cirium. What is interesting to note is the MAX in Hawaii. The 737 MAX 9 flew 19.3% of Alaska’s scheduled flights to and from Hawaii and roughly 20.9% of capacity.

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The next chapter: longer-haul schedules

While the 737 family is more well-known as a short-haul narrowbody aircraft, the next generation of the 737 family has capitalized on the latest technology that has allowed it to fly farther than the previous generation of 737s, as several airlines have shown.

One airline that pushed the 737, including previous generation of aircraft, is Panama’s Copa Airlines. Copa has rolled out to the 737 MAX on many of its key long-haul routes. In December, the MAX made up 15% of its scheduled flights but 25% of ASMs, largely because of its prevalence on Copa’s long-haul routes.

The MAX 9 has operated many of Copa’s longest-haul routes, including the top three by stage length: Panama City to Montevideo, Panama City to San Francisco, and Panama City to Buenos Aires. Some of these flights stretch to nearly eight hours of block time, putting them squarely in the long-haul segment.

Another airline that has utilized the MAX on long-haul routes is flydubai. The Dubai-based airline has an extensive network reach of the MAX, flying the planes on routes near and far from its hub in Dubai (note the prevalence of the plane on routes to Helsinki):

While some of these long-haul MAX routes came into play before the grounding hit, 2021 has marked a resurgence of the MAX across the world. With nearly every major operating having resumed flights with the aircraft type, the year showed what made the MAX one of the most-desired narrowbody aircraft. While not every airline has used the aircraft in the same way, the combination of nearly 750 gross new orders in 2021 and the massive array of routes the aircraft is being flown on show just how strong the family is and the flexibility and versatility of the aircraft.

The story of the MAX is not finished. As more aircraft are delivered in 2022, airlines are looking ahead to more ways to use the MAX. Next summer, for example, WestJet is looking to fly a significant portion of its transatlantic network using its fleet of 737 MAX 8 aircraft. In short, 2021 marked the resurgence of the MAX family, though 2022 and beyond will mark the continued evolution of the way the plane is used across the world.

Source: https://simpleflying.com/2021-the-resurgence-of-the-boeing-737-max/