Virgin Australia orders 23 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft

Virgin Australia announced an agreement with Boeing to order 23 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, the first in Australia. The fuel-efficient aircraft will join Virgin Australia’s fleet between 2019 and 2021. The agreement includes four additional delivery options, ensuring flexibility to respond to market conditions. To align with its current capacity plan for the next three years, Virgin Australia has delayed the delivery of some of its Boeing 737NG aircraft to after 2016, leaving 31 scheduled deliveries of Boeing 737-800 aircraft between 2013 and 2016. This gives the airline flexibility to develop the appropriate mix of narrow-body and wide-body aircraft. Virgin Australia expects that by the end of 2013, all of its Boeing 737-700 aircraft will have exited the fleet. Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti said: “Virgin Australia is committed to maintaining a young and flexible fleet of modern aircraft. In the past year alone, we have reduced our average fleet age from 4.9 to 4.2 years.