Southwest buys more Boeing Max 8 planes, defers smaller Max 7 orders

New York

SOUTHWEST Airlines delayed orders for 23 of Boeing Co's 737 Max 7 aircraft, casting doubt on the future of the smallest Max variant as it adds 40 Max 8 deliveries valued at nearly US$4.5 billion.

Pushing most of its Max 7 orders out until 2023 and 2024 probably means that the carrier is trying to decide whether it wants to keep any of its pending orders for the plane, said George Ferguson, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. It also could eventually convert the orders to another version of the Max, said George Hamlin of Hamlin Transportation Consulting.