The airline was also the first in North America to operate the aircraft on scheduled revenue passenger flights, which began October 1, 2017.[1] On January 2, 2018, Southwest converted 40 options into firm orders for the Boeing 737 MAX 8, bringing total orders of the variant to more than 250 aircraft.[2] On the same day, the airline also announced that it was deferring 23 deliveries of the Boeing 737 MAX 7 to 2023-2024 and beyond.[3] On April 26, 2018, Southwest exercised a further 40 options on the Boeing 737 MAX 8, converting them to firm orders.