I got a couple of Alaska Max jets on test on the same day recently. One was still unpainted but the colors were on the rudder and winglets so it was easy to see where it was going. The other jet was already fully painted and probably close to delivery. With me now traveling a little bit more and that travel being with Alaska, maybe I shall get to travel on one before too long. We shall see…
The arrival of this Alaska 737 on the flight line at Renton got a lot of attention from the locals. A special livery is always going to be of interest but this one is better than the average. The dark blue combined with the orcas is a really cool look. I first saw the jet while it was on the flight line at Renton ahead of a first flight. I wasn’t able to get it as it left Renton but I was able to catch its arrival at BFI. After a few test flights, it has now been delivered to Alaska so now I just have to hope I can catch it in better conditions.
The nice thing about having the factory for airliners nearby is seeing aircraft in the colors of an airline that you would not normally see. It is a little disappointing when they are not actually painted. I like the primer look (I know the protective film isn’t really primer, but I don’t have a better term for it) but it would have been nicer to have the livery. Only some marking on the composite parts that are already painted let you know what airline it is destined for.
Plenty of 737 Max jets are changing their colors at the moment. The cancellation clauses of the purchase contracts have allowed a bunch of airlines to cancel their orders without penalty as a result of the extended delays in delivery – something that may have been welcome during the pandemic! Boeing has seen an uptick in demand for airframes recently and has been mostly successful in reselling these finished airframes.
This one showed up recently at Boeing Field. It is all white so may have been identified as problematic before it ever got painted in airline colors. The people I was chatting too had no idea where it was due to go and whether it could even be a BBJ. No doubt it will soon find a home if it hasn’t already.
Singapore Airlines has been rationalizing their operations and one of the changes that they are making is getting rid of their subsidiary Silk Air and integrating its operations in to the mainline airline. Silk Air has ordered a bunch of 737s from Boeing and these are in the process of being delivered. A number of the planes were already painted in the Silk Air colors and apparently the airline determined it was cheaper for them to repaint them than to have Boeing do it. Consequently, they are being test flown in the old colors.
I assume that later jets will be painted in Singapore colors as they come off the line (depending on how much Boeing charges for that change order) but I have yet to see one in the new colors. I hope to get one before too long since I don’t have any plans to be in Singapore for a while. We shall see. I have got some distant shots of one passing near the house as it returned to BFI as well as some shots from BFI itself.
As a youth, a British Airways 737 was a regular sight. The 200 series got a ton of use by BA and, in later years, the 400 series did a lot of work at Gatwick. The A320 family gradually displaced them all. However, Comair in South Africa flies in BA colors. They even had 727s in BA colors in days gone by. IAG, the parent of BA, signed a letter of intent with Boeing for 200 737 Max aircraft but this has not been turned into a firm order that I know of. However, Comair did order the Max and one of their aircraft was on test recently. I am not sure if it is still going to Comair or has been reallocated to another customer but it is still in British Airways markings – for now.
S7 is a Russian airline so not one that I normally get to see. Tokyo is the only place I have seen their planes in operation. They have a bunch of 737 Max jets on order. I saw one of them in a Boeing test bay on the west side of Renton one evening when passing by. The bright green colors are hard to miss. Fortunately, it was not long after this that I was at Boeing Field in the evening when the jet came in from a test flight. The light was pretty nice by that time of day but I don’t think it would have mattered with a color that vibrant!
Being close to the 737 production line means you see all sorts of airline markings on jets. That includes seeing an airline you didn’t know anything about. Caribbean Airlines had an upcoming delivery of a 737 Max 8 and it was out on test the day I took off. Not the most dramatic livery but still not too bad. The predecessors, Air Jamaica and BWIA were more colorful, though. It taxied passed me as it headed out so I got shots of it taking off. Later in the day it returned just as I was thinking it would be time to head home. It arrived and then I left. Quite a good end to the day.
I was running some errands in the Renton area one weekend so it seemed inappropriate to not pop to the airfield to see what the latest 737 customer aircraft were. There were several jets scattered across the field with Malta markings on them. None of them were very convenient to get a shot of but I managed to get some from the trail and some longer shots across the field from the park. Quite a nice looking livery I think. I have read that they are a Ryanair operation and these are Max 8-200s
Boeing has been building and testing 737 Max jets throughout the grounding so having them flying is not a great surprise. However, with the grounding order lifted by the FAA, things are moving into a higher gear. United took delivery of a jet and American Airlines has indicated it will start service before the end of the year. Two jets were up on the same day which leads me to think that they have already undergone the mod programs and are being tested prior to delivery to the airline.
