Boeing selling dozens of 737 MAX 7 to Southwest Airlines

Boeing Co is close to selling dozens of its 737 MAX 7 jets to Southwest Airlines Co, that includes potentially "significant options."

Each 737 MAX 7has a listed price of around $100 million, though it sells for less than half of that with typical market discounts.

Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly said in November that the company was debating between the Boeing 737 MAX-7, which has yet to be certified, or the A220, which would mean a shift away from its all-Boeing fleet for the first time.

While acknowledging that the A220 is “a great plane,” Kelly reiterated the advantages to having a single fleet type.

In December, Alaska Airlines agreed to buy 23 737 MAX 9 jets after Ryanair ordered 75.
The MAX 7, the smallest of four MAX variants, has 153 seats in a two-class configuration and a range of 3,850 nautical miles.

Boeing’s overall order backlog stood at 4,041 aircraft as of end-February.

The 737 MAX family has been grounded for nearly two years following its fatal crashes with Lion Air in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines in 2019 when 346 people died.