SCAT Airlines’ First Boeing 737 MAX 9 Arrives In Kazakhstan

On August 28th, Kazakh carrier SCAT Airlines took delivery of its first Boeing 737 MAX. The new jet flew a multi-stop journey halfway across the world from Boeing’s facilities in Renton, Washington. Stopping in Keflavik (Iceland) and Istanbul (Turkey), the aircraft reached Shymkent after nearly 16 hours of flight time. Let’s take a look at the carrier’s new addition.

SCAT took delivery of its first and only 737 MAX 8 back in 2018. Photo: Boeing

The three-legged ferry flight

SCAT’s new 737 MAX 9 registered UP-B3726 departed Boeing’s 737 MAX assembly facilities in Renton on August 27th at 08:07 local time. After nearly seven hours of flying time, it then landed at Keflavik airport at 22:04 local.

With less than an hour on the ground refueling, the jet took off a minute before midnight. Flying this second leg for just over five and a half hours, the aircraft touched down at Istanbul airport at 07:33 local time.

The aircraft spent more time in Istanbul than it had at Keflavik, with just under three hours on the ground. It then departed at 10:27 for a four-hour flight. The MAX 9 landed at Shymkent’s airport at 17:33 local time.

Without including stopover time, the aircraft spent a total of 16 hours inflight. However, the total journey was closer to 24 hours. Photo: RadarBox.com

About SCAT’s newest aircraft

SCAT’s new delivery, a Boeing 737 MAX 9, is registered UP-B3726. Data from RadarBox.com notes that the aircraft also has MSN 60389 and Line Number 8107. The source also notes that the aircraft has had a number of test flights in recent months, including one from San Antonio (Texas) to Moses Lake (Washington) on May 20th of this year. This was followed by several flights between Moses Lake, Boeing Field, Paine Field, and Renton over July and August 2021.

Data from Planespotters.net indicates that the aircraft is configured with just a single class. This all-economy setup seats 213 passengers, which is just shy of Boeing’s published MAX 9 maximum capacity of 220.

SCAT has just one MAX 8 and now one MAX 9. Photo: Boeing

SCAT’s second Boeing 737 MAX

The arrival of this new MAX 9 means that the Kazakh carrier now has a total of two 737 MAX aircraft. The first 737 of this generation delivered to the airline is a MAX 8 registered UP-B3720. This jet arrived in March of 2018, presumably spending about two years on the ground due to the worldwide crisis with the type. According to the SCAT website, a total of six -8s have been ordered, all having a single-class setup with 186 economy seats.

Since around February of 2021, this MAX 8 has been flying quite frequently. Indeed the majority of its flying has been between Kazakhstan’s two largest cities, Nursultan (formerly Astana) and Almaty.

In total, SCAT is a fairly small airline of just 25 aircraft over four different types: The Boeing 737, 757, and 767, as well as the Bombardier (now Mitsubishi) CRJ-200. Despite this, there is a fair bit of diversity in the airline’s Boeing 737 fleet with the following variants: -300, -500, -700, -800, and of course the -8 and -9.

Have you ever flown with SCAT or spotted a SCAT aircraft for yourself? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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