According to new reports, Southwest Airlines will now be the first carrier to order Boeing’s brand new 737 MAX. In fact, the company will be buying 150 of these more-efficient planes and about 58 737 jets. This order has a combined value of almost $18 billion.

The carrier said that it ordered single-aisle 737s with a catalog value totaling more than $19 billion from Boeing. Of course, it is well-known that airlines typically do not pay the catalog value for these planes. Thus, it is not really known just how much the airline actually paid for this deal.

Overall, the deal was for 208 jets. Out of this number, 150 of them were going to be 737 MAX jets. The airline said that it does still hold the option to buy another 150 planes if it wants them. Boeing’s list price for the MAX is $77.7 million for the smallest model and $101.7 million for the largest. However, as said earlier, airlines are able to typically negotiate these prices down when they buy in bulk.

Richard Aboulafia, who is the vice president of the consultant Teal Group, said that Southwest has done everything they can to lower their cost of operations. So now it comes down to getting better technology to save money on fuel. Overall, Boeing should be treating this as a very strong endorsement for the MAX. They wanted airlines to buy it because it offers better fuel efficiency, and that is just what Southwest Airlines is doing.