Alaska Air Group has just announced its biggest aircraft order in history. I don’t think there’s anything hugely surprising here, but it still represents some major growth, and in particular, shows a focus on larger aircraft.
First of all, Alaska is still being conservative with its long haul growth, and “only” has 17 Dreamliners on order. I don’t think that’s too surprising, as it’s generally a conservative airline. That being said, in a parallel universe, I could see Alaska going all-in on becoming a global player, and greatly expanding its Dreamliner fleet.
I think what’s most interesting is to see Alaska continuing to go for larger variants of the 737:
The 787-10 is the largest variant of the 787, and complements the existing 787-9s the company has (which are being transfered from Hawaiian to Alaska). Meanwhile the 737 MAX 10 is the largest variant of the 737, which hasn’t yet been certified.
It’s noteworthy that the airline plans to go from the present fleet of 413 aircraft, to a fleet of 550 aircraft by 2035. That says nothing of the fact that the average capacity per plane will be much higher in 2035 than it is now.
What do you make of Alaska’s big Boeing aircraft order?