On 6 August, Air Canada finally received its 40th and final Boeing 737 MAX from an order placed in 2014. The original order was for 61 aircraft but the pandemic forced the carrier to cut down. In the end, the carrier ordered and took delivery of 40 aircraft.
The end of a chapter
Yesterday, Air Canada welcomed its 40th and final B737 MAX 8 from Boeing Field in Seattle to the Southern Ontario border city of Windsor.
Why Windsor? It is home to a maintenance facility operated by full-service MRO (aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul) provider AAR Aircraft Services. As Air Canada has an MRO agreement with AAR, it makes sense that the carrier opted to send its new 737s to the city of Windsor instead of busy hubs Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
The aircraft’s arrival marked the end of the saga that began in October 2017 when Air Canada received the first MAX 8 from the initial order.
The Canadian flag carrier then went on to receive 24 aircraft deliveries between 2017 and 2019. The unwelcome arrival of the coronavirus in March 2020 halted progress due to the worldwide grounding of aircraft. Deliveries resumed in September 2021 and came to a conclusion this month.
The 40th MAX 8
Air Canada’s latest addition to its fleet took its first ever flight in July 2019 and is therefore a pretty brand-new jet. Prior to delivery, the Boeing 737 Max had operated 7 flights with a total flight time of seven hours and seven minutes.
The jet spent most of its first years in storage at Moses Lake and Renton so while the actual airframe is three years old, it’s essentially as young as it can get.
Happy to see the Montréal-based carrier complete its order? Perhaps you’ve flown on an Air Canada 737 Max? Comment below to share your thoughts.
