Boeing 737 MAX Production Thread - Part 1

smittythepirate · Thu Mar 09, 2017 1:11 pm

Boeing 737 MAX 8 Earns FAA Certification

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/2017-03-09- ... tification

First 737 MAX family member on track for customer deliveries in coming months

nycbjr · Thu Mar 09, 2017 2:18 pm

Congrats Boeing! Seems like the testing program was butter smooth!

ikolkyo · Thu Mar 09, 2017 5:37 pm

I'm surprised there wasn't dual certification with the EASA.

StTim · Thu Mar 09, 2017 5:40 pm

Yes congrats.

MileHFL400 · Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:32 pm

Gosh was not expecting this for another couple of months

AeroTyke · Fri Mar 10, 2017 5:05 pm

Max #5 has a flightplan filed to leave RNT at 0930L. N8705Q and will be first Max to fly in Southwest livery.

ikolkyo · Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:30 pm

N8705Q should be heading out shortly

https://twitter.com/woody2190/status/840296990562951168

ikolkyo · Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:54 pm

Airborne, https://www.flightradar24.com/BOE5/cb32a70

https://twitter.com/woody2190/status/840305421361410048

TheDBCooper · Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:26 pm

Looks fantastic. I know this is a view probably not held by many on A.net, but I think the 737MAX is uniquely handsome.

cpthuy · Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:25 pm

First production MAX finally took off. Totally worth the wait.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cpthuy/32 ... ateposted/

PlanesNTrains · Sat Mar 11, 2017 12:45 am

Figures. I was down there to check out the upgraded IKEA and decided against driving by RNT first. Ugh.

cpthuy · Sat Mar 11, 2017 2:37 am

PlanesNTrains wrote:
Figures. I was down there to check out the upgraded IKEA and decided against driving by RNT first. Ugh.

Sorry, I could have informed you but my phone decided it want to play dead today

AeroTyke · Tue Mar 14, 2017 10:19 pm

Another Batik Malaysia now fully painted at RNT. Wearing 9M-LRC and believed to be ln 5948 (not confirmed). The other painted one sans reg is still parked round the back at the lake side.

Credit : Huy Do. Click for full size.

Boeing 737 MAX 8 Batik Air Malaysia 9M-LRC by Huy Do, on Flickr

PlanesNTrains · Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:03 pm

One day we WILL see a MAX in full sun. lol Great pic, though. I like that livery.

AeroTyke · Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:13 pm

An update on the other 2 : both are parked in the west side stalls, one is all white with a yellow rudder, the other is all white with a white rudder. Assuming that the one round the back is 1A204 ln 6222 as posted by Woody, then I think the yellow rudder one is probably 1A202 ln 6034 and the white rudder one there now is 1A203 ln 6114. I must stress that this is nothing more than (somewhat) educated guesswork based on the limited info available in the public domain and could be wrong.

AeroTyke · Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:45 pm

The 737-9 is on the flight line now too :

Boeing 737 MAX 9 Boeing Company N7379E by Huy Do, on Flickr

:bigthumbsup:

KarelXWB · Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:16 pm

More Southwest production frames got their engines installed:

Boeing 737-8 MAX Southwest Airlines by Huy Do, on Flickr

ikolkyo · Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:20 pm

A little odd that there are so many when ops don't begin until October

KarelXWB · Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:24 pm

Chris Edwards made a nice comparison between the 737 NG and MAX:

https://twitter.com/woody2190/status/842229749430722561

KarelXWB · Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:32 pm

ikolkyo wrote:
A little odd that there are so many when ops don't begin until October

Quite strange indeed. First delivery remains scheduled for July, it looks like Southwest will build up a large 737 MAX fleet before putting the aircraft into service.

lightsaber · Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:50 pm

KarelXWB wrote:
ikolkyo wrote:
A little odd that there are so many when ops don't begin until October

Quite strange indeed. First delivery remains scheduled for July, it looks like Southwest will build up a large 737 MAX fleet before putting the aircraft into service.

Is WN still retiring 737 Classics prior to starting service? If so, they will need a number of -8 MAX for a rapid transition.

Lightsaber

737max8 · Mon Mar 20, 2017 2:06 pm

lightsaber wrote:
KarelXWB wrote:
ikolkyo wrote:
A little odd that there are so many when ops don't begin until October

Quite strange indeed. First delivery remains scheduled for July, it looks like Southwest will build up a large 737 MAX fleet before putting the aircraft into service.

Is WN still retiring 737 Classics prior to starting service? If so, they will need a number of -8 MAX for a rapid transition.

Lightsaber

It all makes sense. Have to retire the classics before flying the MAX. However, the classics are needed for the summer lift. So at the end of summer, retire the classics and have a bunch of MAX ready to go to replace them.

ikolkyo · Mon Mar 20, 2017 2:08 pm

lightsaber wrote:
KarelXWB wrote:
ikolkyo wrote:
A little odd that there are so many when ops don't begin until October

Quite strange indeed. First delivery remains scheduled for July, it looks like Southwest will build up a large 737 MAX fleet before putting the aircraft into service.

Is WN still retiring 737 Classics prior to starting service? If so, they will need a number of -8 MAX for a rapid transition.

Lightsaber

The final 737 classic flight is the day before MAX operations I believe. Final classic flight is in Sept 30th and MAX begins service Oct 1st.

I see that there are 78 737-300s still in the fleet, I'm not sure how many will remain for the summer but that is quite a bit to have gone by September. How many MAX aircraft are to be delivered for EIS.

Edit: Just saw 9-10 aircraft initially, quite the capacity drop.

Johnv707 · Mon Mar 20, 2017 2:56 pm

ikolkyo wrote:
lightsaber wrote:
KarelXWB wrote:

Quite strange indeed. First delivery remains scheduled for July, it looks like Southwest will build up a large 737 MAX fleet before putting the aircraft into service.

Is WN still retiring 737 Classics prior to starting service? If so, they will need a number of -8 MAX for a rapid transition.

Lightsaber

The final 737 classic flight is the day before MAX operations I believe. Final classic flight is in Sept 30th and MAX begins service Oct 1st.

I see that there are 78 737-300s still in the fleet, I'm not sure how many will remain for the summer but that is quite a bit to have gone by September. How many MAX aircraft are to be delivered for EIS.

Edit: Just saw 9-10 aircraft initially, quite the capacity drop.

Just saw this - Courtesy of RoutesOnline -
Southwest Airlines on Thursday 16MAR17 opened reservation for its new Boeing 737MAX 8 (IATA Code: 7M8), set to enter operations on 01OCT17. Initially, the airline will put 9 aircraft into revenue service on 01OCT17, and for the first week the MAX 8 will serve over 20 cities in Southwest network. A 10th aircraft is scheduled to enter service by the following week.

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/air ... e-20170319

737max8 · Mon Mar 20, 2017 5:29 pm

ikolkyo wrote:
lightsaber wrote:
KarelXWB wrote:

Quite strange indeed. First delivery remains scheduled for July, it looks like Southwest will build up a large 737 MAX fleet before putting the aircraft into service.

Is WN still retiring 737 Classics prior to starting service? If so, they will need a number of -8 MAX for a rapid transition.

Lightsaber

The final 737 classic flight is the day before MAX operations I believe. Final classic flight is in Sept 30th and MAX begins service Oct 1st.

I see that there are 78 737-300s still in the fleet, I'm not sure how many will remain for the summer but that is quite a bit to have gone by September. How many MAX aircraft are to be delivered for EIS.

Edit: Just saw 9-10 aircraft initially, quite the capacity drop.

You are forgetting the 50+ -800s and used -700s WN is adding this year also, in addition to 14 MAX.

14 MAX and 54 -800s/-700s

67 planes in, 87 planes out. Planes in have more seats.

hibtastic · Mon Mar 20, 2017 5:50 pm

...and still no DY/D8 MAXs yet?

ikolkyo · Mon Mar 20, 2017 6:44 pm

hibtastic wrote:
...and still no DY/D8 MAXs yet?

Very interesting how non have rolled out, any talk of when we should see the first one? Also interested in knowing when Batik Air Malaysia is expected to receive theirs.

Someone83 · Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:06 pm

ikolkyo wrote:
hibtastic wrote:
...and still no DY/D8 MAXs yet?

Very interesting how non have rolled out, any talk of when we should see the first one? Also interested in knowing when Batik Air Malaysia is expected to receive theirs.

First should be LN6369, so shouldn't be far away

holzmann · Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:27 pm

The MAX is the most attractive 737 to date IMO.

AeroTyke · Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:10 pm

Someone83 wrote:
ikolkyo wrote:
hibtastic wrote:
...and still no DY/D8 MAXs yet?

Very interesting how non have rolled out, any talk of when we should see the first one? Also interested in knowing when Batik Air Malaysia is expected to receive theirs.

First should be LN6369, so shouldn't be far away

Dunno where you've heard that but it's wrong. 6369 is an Air China -800. The first Norwegian -8 is line 6360 with the 2nd one not far behind - 6372.

737 list :

https://tykesaeroblog.blogspot.com/p/737.html

Someone83 · Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:58 pm

AeroTyke wrote:
Someone83 wrote:
ikolkyo wrote:

Very interesting how non have rolled out, any talk of when we should see the first one? Also interested in knowing when Batik Air Malaysia is expected to receive theirs.

First should be LN6369, so shouldn't be far away

Dunno where you've heard that but it's wrong. 6369 is an Air China -800. The first Norwegian -8 is line 6360 with the 2nd one not far behind - 6372.

737 list :

https://tykesaeroblog.blogspot.com/p/737.html

Yes, it should have said 6360.....but 9 is next to th 0 on my keyboard

AeroTyke · Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:08 pm

Someone83 wrote:
Yes, it should have said 6360.....but 9 is next to th 0 on my keyboard

Ahaha! OK, no problem!

817Dreamliiner · Tue Mar 21, 2017 7:55 am

First FlyDubai 737 MAX:

Boeing 737 MAX 8 FlyDubai LN6326 by Huy Do, on Flickr

KarelXWB · Tue Mar 21, 2017 8:43 am

ikolkyo wrote:
hibtastic wrote:
...and still no DY/D8 MAXs yet?

Very interesting how non have rolled out, any talk of when we should see the first one? Also interested in knowing when Batik Air Malaysia is expected to receive theirs.

Looks like Malindo Air will become the launch operator anyway:

Malindo Air named as 737 Max launch operator

Saskatchewan · Tue Mar 21, 2017 2:39 pm

There should be a Westjet max 8 rolling out soon.

Boeing778X · Tue Mar 21, 2017 3:02 pm

holzmann wrote:
The MAX is the most attractive 737 to date IMO.

Agreed! It looks very sporty and harmonious! It's come a long way!

I am waiting for AAs first one! We should be getting it 3Q.

MileHFL400 · Tue Mar 21, 2017 3:05 pm

Why is there such a large gap between certification and first delivery?

Polot · Tue Mar 21, 2017 3:43 pm

MileHFL400 wrote:
Why is there such a large gap between certification and first delivery?

Well for starters since the plane is running ahead of the initial schedule (Boeing was originating targeting 3Q2017 EIS, while acknowledging that if things go smoothly they may delivery it earlier) the airlines may not be fully prepared to take on the plane as of right now. The earlier than initially planned certification may have also affected the number and pace of production frames that Boeing was expected to have prepared/completed at certification time.

boefan · Tue Mar 21, 2017 6:44 pm

Another angle of Batik Air Malaysia first 737 MAX

9M-LRC Boeing 737-MAX 8 (42985) Batik (2aa) by Barry Ambrose, on Flickr

Boeing778X · Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:21 am

Polot wrote:
MileHFL400 wrote:
Why is there such a large gap between certification and first delivery?

Well for starters since the plane is running ahead of the initial schedule (Boeing was originating targeting 3Q2017 EIS, while acknowledging that if things go smoothly they may delivery it earlier) the airlines may not be fully prepared to take on the plane as of right now. The earlier than initially planned certification may have also affected the number and pace of production frames that Boeing was expected to have prepared/completed at certification time.

Minor correction. The initial target was 4Q, but was then bumped up to 3Q.

But the testing seems to be going well. Perhaps maybe even sooner.

KarelXWB · Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:50 am

Johnv707 wrote:
Just saw this - Courtesy of RoutesOnline -
Southwest Airlines on Thursday 16MAR17 opened reservation for its new Boeing 737MAX 8 (IATA Code: 7M8), set to enter operations on 01OCT17. Initially, the airline will put 9 aircraft into revenue service on 01OCT17, and for the first week the MAX 8 will serve over 20 cities in Southwest network. A 10th aircraft is scheduled to enter service by the following week.

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/air ... e-20170319

Can someone enlighten me why Southwest will take delivery of at least 9 737 MAX aircraft before putting them into service? I have never heard this before, airlines tend to put expensive aircraft into service immediately.

MileHFL400 · Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:53 am

Anyone know when the first ET frame rolls out?

ikolkyo · Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:59 am

KarelXWB wrote:
Johnv707 wrote:
Just saw this - Courtesy of RoutesOnline -
Southwest Airlines on Thursday 16MAR17 opened reservation for its new Boeing 737MAX 8 (IATA Code: 7M8), set to enter operations on 01OCT17. Initially, the airline will put 9 aircraft into revenue service on 01OCT17, and for the first week the MAX 8 will serve over 20 cities in Southwest network. A 10th aircraft is scheduled to enter service by the following week.

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/air ... e-20170319

Can someone enlighten me why Southwest will take delivery of at least 9 737 MAX aircraft before putting them into service? I have never heard this before, airline tend to put expensive aircraft into service immediately.

I believe it has something to do with the Pilot contracts, WN wanted to operate Classic/NG/MAX together but the pilots revolted and said because the MAX was not in the contract the weren't gonna fly them. Now the Classics have to be gone before MAX flying starts.

VirginFlyer · Wed Mar 22, 2017 11:00 am

ikolkyo wrote:
KarelXWB wrote:
Johnv707 wrote:
Just saw this - Courtesy of RoutesOnline -
Southwest Airlines on Thursday 16MAR17 opened reservation for its new Boeing 737MAX 8 (IATA Code: 7M8), set to enter operations on 01OCT17. Initially, the airline will put 9 aircraft into revenue service on 01OCT17, and for the first week the MAX 8 will serve over 20 cities in Southwest network. A 10th aircraft is scheduled to enter service by the following week.

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/air ... e-20170319

Can someone enlighten me why Southwest will take delivery of at least 9 737 MAX aircraft before putting them into service? I have never heard this before, airline tend to put expensive aircraft into service immediately.

I believe it has something to do with the Pilot contracts, WN wanted to operate Classic/NG/MAX together but the pilots revolted and said because the MAX was not in the contract the weren't gonna fly them. Now the Classics have to be gone before MAX flying starts.

I thought the issue was that the FAA wouldn't authorise one pilot group to be across three variants; it had to be either Classic/NG or NG/MAX.

V/F

ikolkyo · Wed Mar 22, 2017 11:01 am

VirginFlyer wrote:
ikolkyo wrote:
KarelXWB wrote:

Can someone enlighten me why Southwest will take delivery of at least 9 737 MAX aircraft before putting them into service? I have never heard this before, airline tend to put expensive aircraft into service immediately.

I believe it has something to do with the Pilot contracts, WN wanted to operate Classic/NG/MAX together but the pilots revolted and said because the MAX was not in the contract the weren't gonna fly them. Now the Classics have to be gone before MAX flying starts.

I thought the issue was that the FAA wouldn't authorise one pilot group to be across three variants; it had to be either Classic/NG or NG/MAX.

V/F

I think this was also an issue.

737max8 · Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:05 pm

The issue is the FAA, not the contract. No one wants to segment the pilots. Classic flying is needed for summer lift, then retire them and fly the MAX. There is also a lot of prep work needed to ensure a successful operation.

benbeny · Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:52 am

Slightly out of topic, does anyone know how much thrust lost by installing those chevrons?

AeroTyke · Sat Mar 25, 2017 1:08 am

"Boeing Renton, BOE201 we are airworthy".

Boeing 737 MAX 8 Batik Air Malaysia N60659 (9M-LRC) LN5948 by Huy Do, on Flickr

Passedv1 · Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:05 pm

VirginFlyer wrote:
ikolkyo wrote:
KarelXWB wrote:

Can someone enlighten me why Southwest will take delivery of at least 9 737 MAX aircraft before putting them into service? I have never heard this before, airline tend to put expensive aircraft into service immediately.

I believe it has something to do with the Pilot contracts, WN wanted to operate Classic/NG/MAX together but the pilots revolted and said because the MAX was not in the contract the weren't gonna fly them. Now the Classics have to be gone before MAX flying starts.

I thought the issue was that the FAA wouldn't authorise one pilot group to be across three variants; it had to be either Classic/NG or NG/MAX.

V/F

Yes it is the FAA. They are not going to release the 3 variant training/currency requirement until next year and since the classics are slated to go away anyway, it made sense to just implement the available two variant program. An airline would have to delay EOS until the 3 variant program could be implemented, then once implemented, it would only be for a short while as the days of the classic were numbered regardless of the max.

KarelXWB · Tue Mar 28, 2017 9:35 am

So why not delaying deliveries a bit? Must be quite expensive to have an idle fleet sitting on the tarmac for months.

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