US planemaker Boeing said on Monday it has received an order for 100 of its 737 MAX jets from leasing company SMBC Aviation Capital.
In the first major order to be announced at the Farnborough Air Show which opened in the UK on Monday.
The head of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, Stephanie Pope, said the order “reflects the strong demand we are seeing for the efficiency, reliability and agility of the 737 MAX family.”
After production quality issues, lawsuits and an overhaul of its governance, the US company plans to stage a major comeback in Farnborough, just outside London.
The green light from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in October 2025 to lift the production cap of the single-aisle 737 MAX, its best-selling plane, is seen as a significant milestone.
It is also awaiting certification – after several years of delays – of its three new aircraft.
SMBC’s order, the value of which was not disclosed, includes 60 737-10s and 40 737-8s.
“Our partnership with Boeing dates back more than two decades, and this order reflects the market momentum as our airline and investor customers look to increase capacity with the 737-10,” said SMBC Chief Executive Peter Barrett.
“This order will support their growth ambitions well into the next decade and reflects our strong confidence in the Boeing 737 MAX and the sustained demand for fuel-efficient and technologically advanced narrow-body aircraft,” he said.
The company, based in Dublin, Ireland, and described as the world’s leading aviation finance platform, manages a fleet of 1,700 aircraft for more than 170 airlines worldwide.
Boeing also announced Monday that Saudi carrier Riyadh Air is exercising options on 28 787 Dreamliners from an order placed in 2023 and will convert 20 options to the larger variant of the plane.
Riyadh Air has “also confirmed an order for six additional Airbus A350-1000s, bringing its firm commitment for the aircraft type to 31,” the European planemaker, rival to Boeing, said in a separate statement.
