Southwest Airlines made Boeing very happy today

Wow that's almost 92million per plane. Didn't know they were that expensive these days.
 
'Bout time SWA got some new planes their fleet has been showing some serious age.

Wonder if BA gave them a discount for the fuselage cracks on their other planes.
 
19 billion would make all pilots happy. Imagine if we all woke up with to a plane with a bow on it from Santa...Too bad.
 
Fearless Tower said:
'Bout time SWA got some new planes their fleet has been showing some serious age.
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It depends on which one you get on, and it might also depend on where you fly out of. The SWA planes I fly on are a pretty even split between the older models and newer models. I always look in the cockpit as I walk in, I don't see an abnormally high number of steam-gauge models.

Also, I find their interiors are still in good shape. The most beat-to-crap planes I see are the Dash Trash that come into and out of Williamsport.

Wonder if BA gave them a discount for the fuselage cracks on their other planes.
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That I wasn't aware of. But, SWA is a customer that Boeing should want to keep very, very happy.
 
tonycondon said:
dude i'm always shopping for another glider. it drives Leah crazy
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That's ok.. I'm sure she's always shopping for another boat. :D


Back on topic...

They probably ordered the new planes to show off in front of Delta at ATL. :idea:
 
no not really but i'm always surfing the rowing shell classifieds too :D
 
Ted DuPuis said:
That I wasn't aware of. But, SWA is a customer that Boeing should want to keep very, very happy.
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SWA has become known in the last 5 years for having one of the oldest fleets out there these days. Didn't use to be that way, but everybody else was upgrading while SWA has still been flying a bunch of -300s built in the early 90's! Yes, they have alot of newer -700s, but many -300s are still in the fleet. They are just nicely painted. They probably upgraded the avionics too, but you can tell the difference when you board and see all of the patch reinforcements around the cabin doors (where they have re-inforced the cracks). The cracking was the reason for SWA 812 blowing its top over Blythe.

The reason I ask about the discount is that the SWA 737-300's were experiencing cracking alot earlier in their operational lives than Boeing had advertised.
 
Fearless Tower said:
SWA has become known in the last 5 years for having one of the oldest fleets out there these days. Didn't use to be that way, but everybody else was upgrading while SWA has still been flying a bunch of -300s built in the early 90's! Yes, they have alot of newer -700s, but many -300s are still in the fleet. They are just nicely painted. They probably upgraded the avionics too, but you can tell the difference when you board and see all of the patch reinforcements around the cabin doors (where they have re-inforced the cracks). The cracking was the reason for SWA 812 blowing its top over Blythe.
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Ha - early 90s to me is still a new aircraft. I remember one person I flew a Bonanza for complaining about having a 20-year-old airplane. It's the newest piston (or turbine) aircraft I've ever flown! Understood, though, that with the hours Southwest puts on their aircraft it's a different matter.

I wasn't aware that SWA was known for having an old fleet. To me, I don't really care. 737s are good planes, SWA is a good airline. Good enough for me.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Ha - early 90s to me is still a new aircraft.
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Look how many more cycles they have than anything you fly.

Ted DuPuis said:
I wasn't aware that SWA was known for having an old fleet. To me, I don't really care. 737s are good planes, SWA is a good airline. Good enough for me.
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I don't care either, in fact I don't even notice, and I fly SWA quite a bit these days.
 
bigblockz8 said:
19 billion would make all pilots happy. Imagine if we all woke up with to a plane with a bow on it from Santa...Too bad.
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Looks like some pilot in Seattle is getting his wish:
i-GZSqb5C-L.jpg


:wink2:

Ron Wanttaja
 
Everskyward said:
Look how many more cycles they have than anything you fly.
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Oh, completely true, and I didn't mean to imply that it's an apples-to-apples comparison. It's just funny how perception of "old" vs. "new" has so much variance.

Edit: One interesting point, though. When you go up to middle-of-nowhere Canada, you see a lot of old airplanes, long since retired from mainstream airline service, that are still flying daily on hard flights with a number of cycles up to places where few people live. Old 737-200s, SW4s, 1900s, etc. are still very common up there.

I don't care either, in fact I don't even notice, and I fly SWA quite a bit these days.
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That was more my point.
 
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Fearless Tower said:
SWA has become known in the last 5 years for having one of the oldest fleets out there these days. Didn't use to be that way, but everybody else was upgrading while SWA has still been flying a bunch of -300s built in the early 90's!
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When I fly on Delta, it is frequently on DC-9s . When did they stop making those, 1980 ? American has hundreds of MD-80s, most of those pre-date the 90s as well. When compared apples-apples (short-haul aircraft), I doubt SWA is much different from their domestic competitors, save for maybe jetblue.
 
Fearless Tower said:
When was that photo taken?

What B-29 is that?
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A. A couple of days ago.

B. The B-29 owned by the Museum of Flight in Seattle. They were restoring it in an old Boeing hangar until the hangar was demolished earlier this year. They've wrapped it in plastic to help preserve it until they can get it back inside again. Don't know whose idea the bow was, but it's brilliant...

Ron Wanttaja
 
weilke said:
When I fly on Delta, it is frequently on DC-9s . When did they stop making those, 1980 ? American has hundreds of MD-80s, most of those pre-date the 90s as well. When compared apples-apples (short-haul aircraft), I doubt SWA is much different from their domestic competitors, save for maybe jetblue.
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But how many DC-9s/MD-80s have had holes open up in them in flight? I haven't heard of any.
 
dmspilot said:
But how many DC-9s/MD-80s have had holes open up in them in flight? I haven't heard of any.
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The MD-80 series has been plagued by fuselage cracks since the beginning of production. These are usually found during inspections and properly repaired.

Fortunately none have opened up during flight.
 
dmspilot said:
But how many DC-9s/MD-80s have had holes open up in them in flight? I haven't heard of any.
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This one :yesnod:.

aeropostal_dc95_yv136t_puerto_ordaz_110926_2.jpg


Picture linked from Avherald.com
 
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bigblockz8 said:
19 billion would make all pilots happy. Imagine if we all woke up with to a plane with a bow on it from Santa...Too bad.
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My Grandfather found a PT-13D in his hangar with a big red bow around it and a huge card in front for Christmas 1968. Grandmom had saved her pecan money to put down the down payment.
 
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