Boeing and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) announced a purchase agreement for 15 737 MAX 8 jets on Tuesday. The order is the first made directly by lessor to the US planemaker.
Recently, DAE entered into purchase and lease back agreements with American Airlines and Gol involving a total of 23 737 MAX.
“We are delighted to deepen our already strong relationship with Boeing. Including this order, we own and manage 162 Boeing aircraft. An increasing number of global aviation regulators are returning the MAX to the skies. We are confident in the success of these aircraft as domestic and regional air travel are seeing strong signs of recovery,” said Firoz Tarapore, Chief Executive Officer of DAE.
“DAE has been instrumental in helping its customers perform the operating economics and environmental performance of the 737-8. We are delighted that they have come back to add more 737 aircraft to its growth plan as it positions itself for the recovery in commercial passenger traffic,” said Ihssane Mounir, Boeing senior vice president of Commercial Sales and Marketing.
The new order should appear on Boeing’s Orders and Deliveries website as soon as the deal is finalized, the company said.
Since the 737 MAX was released to resume operations at the end of last year, Boeing has delivered nearly 90 aircraft, according to Cirium. The manufacturer had about 450 aircraft ready in December and plans to ship half of them to customers by the end of 2021.
