Airlines / Air Canada 737 MAX Air Canada prepares for MAX flexibility, efficiency By Brent Jang 14 SKIES Magazine | May/June 2017 ir Canada is preparing to renew its narrow-body fleet with Boeing 737 MAX jets, underscoring the carrier’s mission to find the best aircraft match for a wide range of routes. Air Canada first announced its purchase of 61 new narrow-body planes in late 2013, placing orders for 33 Boeing 737 MAX 8s and 28 of the larger MAX 9s. The airline is scheduled to receive its first two MAX 8s by the end of 2017 and another 16 of the MAX 8s in 2018. The remaining 43 jets in the order are slated to be filled between 2019 and 2021. “It’s about matching supply with demand— putting the right aircraft on a route,” said Robert Kokonis, president of airline consult- ing firm AirTrav Inc. “Airlines are constantly juggling fleet allocation.” In 2007, Air Canada began gradually adding Boeing 777s to its wide-body fleet, followed by the debut of Boeing 787 Dreamliners starting in 2014. Air Canada has eight wide-body Airbus A330s but the fleet of wide-bodies is dom- inated by Boeing 777s and 787s. “The backbone of the narrow-body fleet will be Boeing as well. The airline is basi- cally making its Boeing footprint a lot larger,” said Kokonis. A