WestJet has formally begun retiring its Boeing 737-700 fleet after selling 27 of the narrowbodies to FTAI Aviation, according to FTAI's September 28, 2026 announcement and matching coverage from AeroTime and Air Journal. The deal is framed as one of FTAI's largest aircraft transactions to date, but it is not an overnight disappearance of the type from WestJet's schedule: seventeen jets stay with the airline under sale-leaseback, while ten off-lease airframes feed FTAI's Aerospace Products engine and module business.
Under the structure disclosed by FTAI, the lessor's 2026 special purpose vehicle bought seventeen Boeing 737-700s that remain on lease to WestJet. Separately, FTAI acquired ten off-lease 737-700s to expand its supply of CFM56-7B engines and modules for maintenance customers. WestJet Group Executive Vice-President and CFO Mike Scott called the 27-aircraft package "a strategic milestone that officially marks the start of our retirement of our 737-700 fleet," while stopping short of publishing a final exit date for the leased seventeen.
That nuance matters for passengers. A sale-leaseback can raise cash and transfer residual risk without immediately cutting frequencies. Air Journal notes that WestJet does not disclose the transaction price or the calendar on which the remaining leased 737-700s will leave service. The type still offers about 132 seats in WestJet's published configuration, versus about 174 on the airline's 737 MAX 8 and 737-800 jets, so it remains a distinct gauge inside the domestic and leisure network even as retirement begins.
The move aligns with comments WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech made to FlightGlobal in June 2026, when he said high fuel prices were accelerating retirement of the oldest 737-700s. WestJet received its first examples in 2001, so the airframes sit at the older end of the 737NG family. FTAI, for its part, says the 2026 SPV inside its Strategic Capital unit targets mid-life 737NG and A320ceo aircraft already on lease, while Aerospace Products monetizes engines from jets leaving airline fleets.
WestJet's longer-term fleet plan already points beyond the 737-700. In September 2025 the airline announced orders for 60 Boeing 737 MAX 10s with 25 options plus seven 787-9s with four options. Those release slots do not by themselves set the last 737-700 flight; they only show that WestJet is funding a larger, more fuel-efficient mix while FTAI provides both sale-leaseback capital and a path for engines leaving the fleet.
David Moreno, president at FTAI, said the transaction shows how Strategic Capital and Aerospace Products work together from sale-leaseback capital for in-service aircraft to a flexible exit for jets leaving airline fleets. That dual path is why seventeen WestJet 737-700s keep flying while ten sisters become engine donors rather than immediate scrap. For Canadian domestic and sun destinations that still see the smaller 132-seat gauge, the visible change will be a gradual thinning of 737-700 banks as leases mature, not a single-night re-equipment across the map.
For now, the verified story is the September 28 transaction itself: twenty-seven 737-700s sold to FTAI, seventeen staying on WestJet metal under lease, ten heading into the CFM56-7B aftermarket, and management language that the retirement program has officially started. Travelers should expect the type to thin gradually rather than vanish on a single bank-change date until WestJet publishes a firmer phase-out schedule.
Sources: AeroTime; Air Journal; FTAI Aviation announcement (Sep 28–29, 2026).
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