Delta Air Lines has agreed to buy 100 Boeing 737 MAX 10 jets, with an option to purchase a further 30, the US carrier has confirmed.
The company announced at Farnborough Airshow in the UK that it would start receiving deliveries of the MAX 10 in 2025. The retail value of the ordered jets is approximately $13.5 billion.
The MAX model has been shrouded in controversy following two fatal crashes which killed a total of 346 people, which resulted in it being grounded for 20 months. Delta was previously the only major US airline to not use the model already in its fleet or on order. Boeing senior vice president of commercial sales and marketing Ihssane Mounir said that the order was testament to the fact that the model had moved on from previous concerns.
“This is a huge testament to the value of the MAX,” said Mounir. “What an endorsement from a world-class airline.”
Boeing shares responded well to the news and were up 4% in premarket trading, while Delta rose by 2%.
Boeing has had “strong demand” for the MAX since regulators allowed it to take to the skies once more, with more than 1,000 gross orders and 1.7 million flight hours, said Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal.
The manufacturer faces a December deadline for the 737 MAX 10 to either meet new cockpit alerting rules or gain a waiver from Congress. Should Boeing fail to secure either it could be forced to cancel production, although Deal said this was unlikely.
Delta said that their agreement with Boeing “has adequate protection in place, including allowing Delta to shift to another model of the MAX family if necessary”.
“This is really the airplane that we would want and we would hope that Boeing can get the extension that they need for the certification,” added Delta senior vice president Mahendra Nair.