Caribbean Airlines’ fleet upgrade exercise continued on Wednesday night as the local carrier took delivery of its second Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.
BW7378 touched down at 10.06 pm local time, making the 6,989 km journey from Seattle’s Paine Field Airport in just under eight hours.
The aircraft, bearing registration 9Y-GUY, was initially scheduled to depart at 9 am from Seattle but data from flight-tracking website flightradar24.com shows an actual departure time of 10.17 am.
9Y-GUY is expected to undergo checks and testing before beginning commercial operations next year.
Caribbean Airlines will operate it in a two-class configuration.
There remains speculation as to how many aircraft the airline will eventually lease.
Back in 2018, Caribbean Airlines announced that it would be taking 12 Max 8 aircrafts, however, that plan was put on hold after two fatal Max 8 crashes led to a worldwide suspension of the aircraft.
CAL’s corporate communications manager Dionne Ligoure remained tight-lipped on the final number only saying, “As part of our strategic plan and cost reduction initiatives, Caribbean Airlines had long taken the decision to renew our fleet and refresh our brand.
The specific number of aircrafts is being refined and more will be said in the coming months.”
The first CAL 737-8 landed in T&T on November 17.
Four other aircraft remain at Boeing’s Everett plant: 9Y-BAR, 9Y-ANT, 9Y-JAM, and 9Y-BAH.
