AAR will maintain all Boeing 737 variants operated by Alaska Airlines from its Oklahoma City facility.
Alaska Airlines has stuck with a U.S. MRO provider for its Boeing 737 heavy checks, extending an existing airframe agreement with AAR until 2030.
Under the deal, AAR will expand its narrowbody maintenance capacity and offer Alaska six lines at its Oklahoma City facility.
The MRO provider has a seven-bay facility at the site, but plans to expand this with a three-bay hangar to give it an additional 85,000 sq-ft of space to maintain all 737 models up to the size of the largest, the 737 Max 10.
The facility expansion is projected to create more than 200 additional jobs at AAR in Oklahoma City.
The extra space will be needed, as Alaska operates one of the largest Boeing 737 fleets in the world. Aviation Week data predicts that the airline will have 234 737s in service next year – 71 Max 9 models with rest being 737NG types.
By 2030, the last year of the new maintenance contract, Alaska’s 737 fleet is predicted to have grown to 91 737 Max 9s, 48 737 Max 10s, six 737 Max 8s and 121 737NG models.
“AAR’s facility expansion aligns with our strategic MRO initiatives related to our growing fleet of all Boeing 737 variants,” says Don Wright, VP maintenance and engineering of Alaska Airlines.
North American airlines are expected to generate $100 billion of airframe heavy maintenance demand over the next 10 years, according to Aviation Week Network’s Commercial Fleet & MRO Forecast 2024.
This is expected to fall from $10 billion next year to $8.1 billion in 2028, after which it will rise steadily to almost $13 billion in 2033.
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