Allegiant exercises first MAX options, orders six 737-8s for 2028

Allegiant Air has ordered six additional Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for delivery in 2028, exercising its first purchase options under a 2021 agreement and lifting firm commitments to 56 jets.

The Las Vegas-based carrier disclosed the purchase on October 23, 2026. Twenty-two of the 56 firm aircraft had been delivered by that date. The deal leaves 34 firm MAX jets still to arrive, and Allegiant retains options on another 74 aircraft.

The six 737-8s carry a combined list price of more than $720 million before discounts and delivery-time price adjustments. Allegiant did not disclose the negotiated price. List figures at that level rarely reflect what airlines actually pay; the gap here stays undisclosed.

What does the order signal?

The purchase deepens a fleet strategy that broke with Allegiant's history. The airline built its low-cost operation largely on used jets. When it announced the original 50-aircraft order in January 2022, Allegiant operated 108 Airbus A319s and A320s.

The original deal covered the smaller 737-7 and the higher-capacity 737-8-200, with options for 50 more aircraft. Allegiant said the new jets would replace retiring aircraft, grow the fleet and cut fuel consumption. At announcement, it claimed the MAX would burn roughly 20% less fuel than its older A320-family jets while offering more seats.

That 20% figure is a manufacturer-supported performance claim, and Allegiant has not published measured fleet-level data against it. The claim deserves scrutiny against actual operating results as the MAX fleet scales.

What about the delivery record?

Execution has lagged the original schedule. Allegiant expected its first MAX in 2023 and all 50 firm aircraft by the end of 2025. Deliveries slipped. The first 737-8-200 arrived in September 2024, roughly a year late.

In November 2024, Allegiant amended the agreement to cut the number of aircraft arriving in 2024 and 2025 and stretch deliveries of the original order through the end of 2027. The airline said that amendment also carried benefits and other considerations tied to the delays. It did not quantify them.

The delays carried a measurable cost. In an October 2024 investor presentation, Allegiant said late deliveries were costing it approximately $30 million annually. It said it was working with Boeing to seek compensation. No settlement figure has been disclosed since.

The first Allegiant MAX entered passenger service in October 2024. With 22 aircraft flying as of October 23, 2026, the carrier has taken just over a third of its firm order in two years of operations — a pace that puts the remaining 34 aircraft, plus these six options, well into 2028.

Engines and maintenance

The fleet shift also locked in a long-term service arrangement. Allegiant signed a 12-year maintenance agreement with CFM International covering the LEAP-1B engines that power the MAX. That contract ties the airline's powerplant economics to CFM's shop network through the mid-2030s.

What does this change for Allegiant?

The option exercise converts schedule confidence into capacity. Six more 737-8s in 2028 extend Allegiant's growth runway beyond the current order book, hedging against further slippage in the remaining 34 firm deliveries. It also signals the airline prices the delays as a solved enough problem to add commitments rather than walk away.

Boeing, for its part, gains a rare incremental narrowbody commitment from a carrier that once bought exclusively secondhand Airbus jets. Whether Allegiant exercises more of its 74 remaining options will depend on how reliably the remaining firm aircraft arrive through 2028.