Not sure what you mean by American airlines not buying new planes. In 2011: https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2011-12-13-Boeing-737-MAX-Logs-First-Firm-Order-from-L

Not sure what you mean by American airlines not buying new planes. In 2011: https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2011-12-13-Boeing-737-MAX-Logs-First-Firm-Order-from-Launch-Customer-Southwest-Airlines https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2011-12-13-Boeing-737-MAX-Logs-... -- Southwest orders 150 737 MAX airplanes and 58 Next-Generation 737s -- Southwest becomes launch customer; scheduled to take first 737 MAX delivery -- Largest firm order in Boeing history Since then, they operate 223 of the 737 MAX (16% of deliveries) and have 495 on order, which is about 10% of total orders. At a single airline. United has 159 and has 388 on order. Then comes Ryanair with 136 delivered and 374 ordered. These are not third world airlines.