The chief executive of Southwest Airlines has disclosed that, as part of the airline’s new fleet capital expenditures (CapEx) strategy, the airline may sell 737 MAX aircraft that are in its order book to the market due to the favorable pricing of the aircraft compared to current market values.
- IATA/ICAO Code
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WN/SWA
- Hub(s)
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Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Dallas Love Field, Denver International Airport, Harry Reid International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Houston Hobby Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Midway International Airport, Oakland International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
- Year Founded
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1967
Southwest Airlines introduced a refined fleet CapEx strategy during its Investor Day in September 2024, when it disclosed that it would explore transactions to “capture value” of its backlog, which included nearly 700 aircraft at attractive pricing.
Southwest Airlines Is Monetizing Its Backlog
During the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, Bob Jordan, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Southwest Airlines, said that the airline is eager to get its hands on more 737 MAX aircraft.
According to Jordan, Southwest Airlines has a “very, very attractive order book of a lot of aircraft at very attractive pricing.” Combined with the fact that, in the next few years, the carrier is planning only incremental capacity growth of between 1% and 2%, the company could explore the sale of aircraft that it does not intend to use for its own operations.
“And if we don’t take all those aircraft for our own uses, then we will monetize those into the market. Our pricing compared to what the market pricing in […] is very strong. And whether we take the aircraft or we decide to sell the aircraft into the market, we’re going to monetize every dime of value that we have in the Boeing order book.”
Boeing Is Improving Its Production Processes
At the same time, Boeing, which has had to face consequences for the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 midair door plug blowout in January 2024, and then the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) strike at its Renton facilities in late 2024, has been behind its delivery schedule.
Southwest Airlines’ annual 2024 report detailed that as of January 30, 2025, it had 496 firm 737 MAX orders, which included 63 737 MAX 7 and 737 MAX 8s that were contractually committed for 2024 but were not delivered by Boeing. At the time, the airline assumed that the plane maker would hand over 38 737 MAX 8 aircraft in 2025, in contrast to 136 contractual deliveries during the year, which includes the 63 737 MAXs that were not delivered in 2024.
Speaking during the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, Jordan remarked that while Southwest Airlines is counting on 
Boeing to deliver 38 aircraft, the airline thinks that the actual number could be close to 50 or more due to “the improvements at Boeing.” The CEO praised the plane maker’s progress in handling its – some of them self-made – crises, noting that while Southwest Airlines is not receiving aircraft according to its contractual schedule, “what we see is much better quality, much better stability of the deliveries.”
Related
Southwest Airlines Slides 27 Undelivered Boeing 737 MAX 7s From 2024 To 2025: Pending Certification
Boeing previously communicated that the 737 MAX 7 would be certified sometime in 2025.
All Part Of The ‘Southwest. Even Better’ Plan
Southwest Airlines unveiled its plans to utilize its current aircraft assets and its order book to first, free up CapEx for investments in operational improvements, second, manage its debt levels, and third, to free up cash to improve returns to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, during the aforementioned Investor Day in 2024.
Tammy Romo, the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Southwest Airlines, who left the company on April 1, said during the event that with efficiency improvements primarily driving capacity growth, including red-eye flights, the airline could “commit more to non-aircraft investments over the coming years in support of our transformational initiatives.”
Romo summarized that Southwest Airlines has access to nearly 700 aircraft through 2031 at attractive pricing, which, coupled with modest capacity growth plans, results in potentially excessive new aircraft. Romo’s direct replacement, Tom Doxey, said during the TD Cowen Future of Consumers Conference on June 4 that the carrier has “tremendous value” in its fleet and order book, with over $16 billion of unencumbered aircraft assets. “I think you will see less in the form of sale leasebacks, and you’ll likely see more in the form of either direct sales or parting the aircraft out and using assets from the” part-out process, Doxey added.
