Air Canada has adjusted the delivery of its 737 MAX aircraft, delaying the delivery of some aircraft by up to three years. The airline says that it made the move in order to evaluate other aspects of its fleet, such as the Bombardier CSeries (which could soon become the Airbus A200 family).

While eleven MAX deliveries have been shifted back, five 737 MAX deliveries have been shifted up and will now be delivered in 2020. A specific, updated delivery timeline has not yet been released.

“We [have] concluded an amendment to [our] Boeing 737 purchase agreement where certain aircraft are accelerated and other are deferred,” Air Canada chief financial officer Michael Rousseau says during the call.

Air Canada chief Calin Rovinescu said that the shift was made in order to allow the airline to take the capacity when needed. He cited “moving parts” in the airline, including the airline’s Embraer E190 fleet and an order for forty five Bombardier CS300s.

“When we made the 737 order we didn’t know exactly what we were doing with exiting the 190s… We didn’t have, at that stage, the CSeries orders,” Rovinescu said. “We will also wait and see how the CSeries performs.”

Air Canada will begin retiring E190s from its fleet later this year, and will begin to take CSeries aircraft in 2019.

In 2014, Air Canada placed orders for 61 737 MAX aircraft, including fifty 737 MAX 8s and eleven 737 MAX 9s, with deliveries due between 2017 and 2021. The MAX 9s were to be delivered last, and twelve MAX 8s have already been delivered.

Air Canada has said that it still plans to have thirty-six 737 MAX aircraft in its fleet by 2019.

“[Our order changes] give us maximum flexibility to bring the 737s Max in a time when we can use them most effectively,” he says. “We don’t want to be inundated with aircraft at times when we can’t use them, and we don’t want to be short of aircraft.”

Featured image by Chuyi Chuang