Boeing has announced it delivered 29 aircraft in March 2021, and received a total of 196 orders for new aircraft in the month.
The 737 MAX made up a majority of March’s gross orders, including the previously announced Southwest deal for 100 737 MAX jets, as well as private investment firm 777 Partners’ order for 24 MAX jets, and Alaska Airlines’ order for 32 MAXs.
An additional 25 MAX jets were purchased by United, while four MAX aircraft were ordered by undisclosed buyers.
The remaining 11 new orders achieved in March were for P-8 military aircraft, which are heavily modified military variants of the Boeing 737 workhorse.
However, when taking into account conversions and cancellations of previous orders, Boeing saw a net positive of 40 orders in March.
It marks the second month in a row that Boeing saw orders outpace cancellations to result in a net positive result. In February, Boeing saw a net total of 31 orders, the first positive result for the planemaker since November 2019.
While the Boeing 737 family drove orders in March, it also similarly drove cancellations.
Throughout the month, Turkish Airlines cancelled 10 of its 737 MAX orders, and converted an additional 40 to options.
Meanwhile, Chinese lessor CDB Aviation cancelled 16 of its 737 MAX orders, while rival China Aircraft Leasing scrapped 26 of its own MAX orders.
Alaska and United both re-contracted nine and 25 of their 737 MAX orders, respectively, for earlier deliveries, while a further 19 undisclosed buyers cancelled MAX orders.
At 29 deliveries, Boeing’s March 2021 result outpaced that of March 2020, in which it delivered 20 aircraft to customers, right at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
Lessors Air Lease Corporation and ICBC leasing took delivery of two 737 MAX jets each in March, while SMBC Aviation Capital took one.
US airlines Southwest and Alaska also welcomed new MAX jets to their fleet in March, with the former taking delivery of seven jets, and the latter, one.
Meanwhile, rival United Airlines took delivery of two 787-9 Dreamliners, marking the first 787 delivery Boeing made in four months, due to lengthy quality control inspections.
TUI Airways welcomed three 737 MAX jets to its fleet, while Copa Airlines took delivery of two.
The remaining deliveries include three P-8A military aircraft, one 767-300F freighter to FedEx Express, one 747-F freighter to UPS, and a 777-300ER to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
