Malaysia Airlines’ First Boeing 737 MAX Leaves Seattle Factory

It’s finally arriving! After a few months of delay, Malaysia Airlines will soon receive its first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The plane has left the Boeing factory in Seattle and is traveling across the Pacific toward Kuala Lumpur. It is expected to make one or more technical stops before it eventually lands in Malaysia.

Plane leaves Seattle

On November 13, Malaysia Airlines’ first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft (registered 9M-MVA) left Seattle at 13:11 and started its journey across the Pacific Ocean towards Kuala Lumpur. According to data by Flightradar24, the plane landed in Honolulu at 16:57 and was still there at the time of publishing this article.

The airline is expected to hold a media presentation in a few days to welcome its first MAX into the fleet. The Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) also confirmed to Business Times that the plane is, indeed, arriving soon, with a spokesperson commenting,

Delayed delivery

Malaysia Airlines was supposed to receive the aircraft in August itself, but Boeing revealed that a snag had affected the deliveries of at least 400 aircraft, including Malaysia Airlines’ first 737 MAX. The US aircraft manufacturer said that improperly drilled holes in the aft pressure bulkhead needed to be fixed, and that would affect the delivery schedule for various airlines.

In September, MAG’s managing director, Izham Ismail, said he was “disappointed” by the development and that he did not have an estimate for the revised delivery date. But the plane has now finally left the Boeing factory. Ismail had also said that he does not expect the deliveries of other MAX aircraft to be affected severely.

What to expect with the new MAX?

Malaysia Airlines’ 737 MAX will feature 162 economy seats and 12 business seats to accommodate 174 passengers. The airline has chosen Viasat’s Ka-band inflight connectivity service, which will also include the Viasat-3 APAC satellite after it is launched next year. Earlier this year, Simple Flying spoke with Malaysia Airlines’ UK regional manager, Daniel Bainbridge, who said,

“One of the innovations with the MAX aircraft is the connectivity onboard in terms of WiFi and streaming of inflight entertainment. So, there will be no seatback televisions. The customers will be able to stream onto their own devices. We’re very excited about that. It’s a very modern aircraft, and it’s great for customers to be able to experience that on the routes they will fly.”

Malaysia Airlines already has more than 40 previous-generation 737s in its fleet, and the new MAX planes will gradually replace the older aircraft and continue serving the airline’s regional and short-to-medium haul routes.

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With inputs from Flightradar24 and Business Times