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WestJet has shaken up its Boeing order book, with the Canadian carrier swapping six narrowbody 737 MAX twinjets for a pair of 787 Dreamliners. Separately, the airline has confirmed that it has reworked its planned configuration for incoming 
Boeing 737 MAX series aircraft, following negative feedback to a recent reconfiguration on existing aircraft that left passengers angry and disappointed.
Specifically, WestJet had installed an extra row of seats on certain narrowbodies, resulting in a decline in pitch and a lack of recline. This move was met with considerable furore by the airline’s passengers, to the extent that it has reversed the decision and plans to return converted planes to their existing layout. WestJet has also confirmed that an additional toilet will be present on incoming 737 MAX jets.
Six 737s Out, Two Dreamliners In
As reported by Airways Magazine, WestJet has reshuffled its order book to tip the balance slightly more in favor of widebodies by trading six single-aisle Boeing 737 MAX 10 twinjets for two units of the twin-aisle 787-9 Dreamliner. The carrier initially had seven 787-9s on order (options for four more) based on an order placed last summer, but this rework will now see the total rise to nine (plus the four options).
According to present fleet data made available by ch-aviation, WestJet already has seven units of the 787-9 at its disposal. These jets are its only widebodies, and they are 6.1 years old on average. Its latest order reshuffle will see it operate a total fleet of 16 examples in the future, with the four options meaning that this figure could rise to as many as 20. Airways Magazine quotes the airline as saying that:
“Six of our 737-10 MAX orders have been converted to two Boeing 787-9s. The two aircraft are in addition to WestJet’s current orderbook, which currently has seven confirmed and four optional 787-9s on order”
WestJet’s Boeing 787 Fleet In A Nutshell
As previously mentioned, WestJet already has seven units of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner at its disposal, with an average age of 6.1 years old (around half of the fleet-wide mean figure of 12.3 years old). Airways Magazine notes that these planes, which were delivered between January 2019 and September 2022, were part of an initial order for ten 787-9s, whereby the final three firm orders were shelved.
WestJet uses its 787-9s on a wide variety of routes, with Cirium, an aviation analytics company, showing that it has 382 flights with the type this month. Calgary (YYC) to Cancun (CUN) is the most popular route, with 43 rotations, and the jet is also used daily from Calgary to London Heathrow (LHR), Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), and Tokyo (NRT), with lower Hawaiian and Mexican frequencies elsewhere.
As far as the configuration of these aircraft is concerned, Seat Maps shows that WestJet favors a 320-seat three-class layout on the 787-9. The best seats in the house are the 16 business class flatbeds in an angled 1-2-1 layout at the front of the jet, behind which are 28 premium economy recliners in a 2-3-2 setup. Meanwhile, the economy cabin has a 3-3-3 configuration and a grand total of 276 seats.
WestJet Bets Big On Boeing: What Its Latest Order Means For The Next Decade?
The airline has placed an order for 67 Boeing aircraft.
The Remaining Boeing 737 MAX 10s Will Have A More Passenger-Friendly Configuration
Even with six units of the Boeing 737 MAX 10 having been swapped for two 787-9s, WestJet still has plenty of examples of the stretched narrowbody on order, given that last summer saw it place 60 firm orders with options for 25 more. According to Airways Magazine, these jets were slated to seat 12 business class and 200 economy class guests, with just three toilets set to serve these 212 passengers.
However, the publication notes that, as well as adding a fourth bathroom to its plans for these jets, WestJet has now also committed to a less dense 199-seat layout. The move comes after severe customer backlash to a recent rework of its existing 737-800 and MAX 8 jets, where legroom was slashed in order to add an extra row of seats. Given the considerable furore, this decision has now been reversed.
