United Airlines said it will buy 25 more Boeing 737 MAX planes from the manufacturer, as well as taking delivery of previously ordered MAX jets earlier than planned, the carrier said today.
"As we plan for the future and the return of demand, we've been looking at ways to best position our fleet for the recovery and be in a position to best take advantage of people's desire to travel," Andrew Nocella, United's chief commercial officer, said in a note to staff, according to CNBC.
The move is viewed as a plus in a pair of contexts. One, it's a vote of confidence in Boeing after the 737 MAX was grounded for nearly two years following two separate crashes that killed 346 people. The plane was re-certified by the FAA in November of 2020 and took its first commercial flight in December.
Two, with United ordering the 25 new 737 MAX planes that are scheduled for delivery in 2023, moving up delivery on 40 others to 2022 and five others to 2023, the airline likely sees a thaw in the devastation that COVID-19 has wrought on the industry.
Capacity on U.S. flights is still down 50 percent compared to 2019 numbers, but it has slowly climbed back to that point after being down as low as five percent in April of last year.
"And as the end of the pandemic nears and vaccines continue to roll out, today's fleet announcement helps position us to meet the demand we expect to see in 2022 and 2023 and puts us on a path toward more opportunities for our employees in the future," wrote Nocella.
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