Orders for Boeing 737 MAX start to flow --------------------------------------------- Boeing is reportedly close to clinching a multibillion-dollar deal with Southwest Airlines for its 737 MAX. Southwest is the 15th operator worldwide to return the 737 MAX to active passenger service --------------------------------------------- 2019: Global MAX fleet peaks at 360 aircraft in service China: Represents quarter of all MAX sales 2019-21: Nearly 800 orders for 737 MAX are cancelled Boeing 737 Max --------------------------------------------- Airlines operating 737 MAX Aeromexico, Mexico Air Canada, Canada Alaska Airlines, U.S. American Airlines, U.S. Cayman Airways, Cayman Islands Copa Airlines, Panama Gol Linhas Aereas, Brazil Icelandair, Iceland SCAT, Kazakhstan Smartwings, Czechia Southwest Airlines, U.S. Sunwing Airlines, Canada TUI, Europe United, U.S. WestJet, Canada --------------------------------------------- Mar 2019: Boeing 737 MAX is grounded after crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 kill 346 people Dec 23: Boeing fires CEO Dennis Muilenburg (left). David Calhoun (right) takes over from January Nov 18, 2020: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) clears 737 Max to fly again Dec 3: Ryanair signs purchase agreement for 75 MAX jets Dec 22: Alaska Airlines inks deal to buy 23 MAX-9 jets Jan 7, 2021: Boeing agrees to pay $2.5 billion to resolve criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud FAA over evaluation of 737 MAX Jan 27: Calhoun reports record $11.9 billion loss and debt of $64bn in 2020 Feb: Boeing sells 82 aircraft, including 25 737 MAX jets, and logs 51 cancellations – first time since November 2019 that monthly sales outpace scrapped orders Mar 12: Boeing unveils deal to sell 24 of its 737 MAX-8 model, with option to purchase further 60, to private equity firm 777 Partners. Shares rise 6.2% to $267.86 Mar 17: Southwest Airlines’ pending order is reported to be for 130 737 MAX-7 planes with option on 170 additional aircraft --------------------------------------------- Sources: Boeing, Bloomberg, Zacks Equity Research Pictures: Associated Press © GRAPHIC NEWS