Southwest Airlines will take another 79 Boeing 737s

Boeing and Southwest Airlines said today that the airline converted options to order 79 new passenger planes in a deal valued at about $4.5 billion.

The order for next-generation 737-700s brings Southwest's current orders with Boeing to 140 undelivered 737s and brings its total past and future count for all 737-700s ordered from Boeing to 370.

The 79-airplane delivery is scheduled from 2007 through 2012. Southwest still has 116 options for delivery from 2008 to 2012, and purchase rights for 54 airplanes deliverable through the end of 2014.