Alaska Airlines
has retired the first-ever Boeing 737-900, an unpopular variant that Boeing had built in the early 2000s.

Retiring the first-ever 737-900

The Alaska Airlines 737-900
, registered as N305AS, was moved to storage on October 1, according to data from planespotters.net.

Flightradar24 records showed that Alaska Airlines flew the aircraft from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Marana Pinal Airport (MZJ). The airport, located in Arizona, is one of the biggest aircraft graveyards in the United States.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 landing at LAS shutterstock_2498062141

Photo: Robin Guess | Shutterstock

The 737-900 still operated commercial flights as recently as September 30, flying four itineraries before its retirement the following day.

Ch-aviation data showed that as of June 30, the airframe had accumulated 73,336 flight hours (FH) and 29,635 flight cycles (FC), with the site citing Boeing’s data.

On average, the now-retired 737-900 had operated 3,142.85 FH and 1,270 FC annually, with an average utilization of 8 hours and 37 minutes per day.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 fleet

Boeing
delivered the 737-900 with the manufacturer serial number (MSN) 30013 on May 15, 2001, one of three 737-900 deliveries to Alaska Airlines during the same month in 2001.

The other two aircraft were registered as N306AS (delivered on May 22) and N307AS (May 29), with MSN 30014 and 30015, respectively.

While N306AS has also been shipped to Marana Pinal Airport for retirement, Flightradar24 forward-looking schedules showed that N307AS has flights scheduled up until October 6.

On October 4, Alaska Airlines has scheduled four flights with the airframe, with its day beginning on flight AS630 from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
(SEA) to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC).

Boeing’s orders and deliveries data showed that between 2001 and 2004, the manufacturer delivered 13 aircraft of the type to the airline.

Out of the 13 delivered 737-900s, eight have flights scheduled in the next two days, while the other five have already exited the carrier’s fleet.

Alaska Airlines has planned to retire its entire remaining 12 aircraft-strong 737-900 fleet in 2025, with the carrier unveiling its plans in its Q2 financial report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The first six retirements would come in 2024, while the remaining six 737-900s would be retired during the following year.

However, its 79 737-900ERs would remain untouched until at least December 31, 2026.

Unpopular variant

Similarly to the smaller 737-600, the 737-900 had been an unpopular variant of the 737 Next Generation (NG) family. The other aircraft types within the family include the 737-700, 737-800, and 737-900ER.

However, its extended range – explaining the ER acronym – was much more popular. While Boeing had delivered only 52 737-900s, the manufacturer’s customers added 505 737-900ER aircraft to their fleets.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 departing PHX shutterstock_2398797771

Photo: Robin Guess | Shutterstock

In comparison, Boeing had delivered 37 737-600, 980 737-700 (including militarized versions), and a whopping 4,971 737-800 aircraft (including militarized versions) by the end of the 737NG’s production run in January 2020.

The manufacturer’s records showed that it delivered the last two 737-800s to China Eastern Airlines in January 2020.

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