On August 6th, Air Canada took delivery of its 40th and final Boeing 737 MAX from an
order originally placed in 2014. The original order was for 61 aircraft but the pandemic
prompted the Canadian carrier to trim its commitment to the narrowbody.
With this Boeing order complete, the airline will be looking ahead to finishing-off its
remaining A220 deliveries and its yet-to-begin A321XLR order.
This 40th and final Boeing 737 MAX 8 was delivered to Air Canada on August 6th with
the aircraft flying from Boeing Field in Seattle to the Southern Ontario border city of Windsor.
This final delivery caps off a process that began with the arrival of Air Canada's first
MAX 8 back in October 2017. Receiving 24 aircraft between 2017 and 2019, the process
was paused due to the worldwide grounding of the type. Deliveries then resumed in September 2021.
For those interested in the specific aircraft marking the occasion, data from BOE Family
Flights indicates that this 737 MAX was registered C-GEPG with MSN 61241 and line number 7649. The
aircraft actually took its first flight in July of 2019 and had test registration N1786B until
its delivery. Due to the worldwide grounding, the 737 spent extended periods of time in storage at
both Moses Lake and Renton. Although brand new to Air Canada, the airframe is now three years old.
Prior to delivery, the jet had performed seven flights, totaling seven hours and seven minutes.
The aircraft's first destination after delivery might seem peculiar to some. After all, Windsor is
not exactly a major Air Canada hub when compared to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, or even Calgary.
However, doing a little research, we see that Windsor is the site of a maintenance facility
operated by AAR Aircraft Services - a full-service aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO)
provider, wholly-owned and operated by AAR Corp. The firm has approximately 290,000 square feet of
facilities in Trois-Rivières, Quebec and Windsor, Ontario, along with facilities in the United
States. In 2017 it took over Premier Aviation's facilities in those two Canadian cities.
Air Canada has an MRO agreement with AAR,
which is likely the reason why we see every new 737 delivered from Boeing first fly to Windsor.
In 2014, Air Canada ordered 61 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. This consisted of 33 737 MAX 8s
and 28 737 MAX 9s, as well as 18 options and 30 rights to purchase additional 737 MAXs.
As you can see from the airline's current situation,
that order has been heavily modified since it was finalized some eight years ago.
Instead of 61 jets, the airline has adjusted its order to only take 40. All of these are
the MAX 8 as it appears that the airline had changed its mind about the longer MAX 9 variant.
With Boeing's delivery data showing no more outstanding 737s to be delivered to the airline,
this could very well be the end of new 737s for the airline. While the airline
does have options and purchase rights that it could exercise, it hasn't acted on this yet.
Have you flown on Air Canada's 737 MAXs yet? Share your experience by leaving a comment.