Mockup of the 737-800 in SWA livery from Airliners.net. Note the slightly longer fuselage and additional overwing exit.
DISCLAIMER: Although I work for Southwest, I have no inside information about this project, only speculation, and any opinions I post here are solely my own and do not in any way represent those of Southwest Airlines, its Board of Directors, Employees, or Stockholders.
Today Southwest Airlines announced that it was considering the additional of a new 737 model, the larger 737-800. I have thought for years that such a move might be wise, so I’m thrilled to hear that we are moving forward. Since we announced it, I am 99 percent sure we’ll end up buying some, although I think (and hope!) there’s a chance we’ll get the even larger 737-900ER.
The -800 offers us two main advantages:
- About 38 more seats compared to the -300 and -700 that make up the vast majority of our fleet (175 vs. 137)
- Lower operating costs per seat-mile
If you’ve flown us recently, there’s a good chance you noticed that our planes are extremely full. Our network planners have done a great job of eliminating or rescheduling unprofitable routes to fill up our planes and make us more money. On some routes, especially the long ones, every flight on every day is almost completely full. We could easily add 20-30 people simply by making the seats available for sale.
Also, we now operate at two airports (Orange County and LaGuardia) that are slot-controlled, meaning we only have the right to operate a limited number of flights per day. We want to get slots at Reagan National as well but haven’t succeeded yet. A larger aircraft would allow us to carry more people with the available slots. At some other airports, we don’t have as many gates as we would like, which limits the number of flights we can operate. The -800 would provide a similar benefit in those situations.
Adding the -800 would add a bit of complexity, such as an extra flight attendant and fewer options for swapping aircraft, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. I am very excited about this possibility and hope to see a 737-800 in SWA colors in 2012.
Visit the Airliners.net discussion in case you want to read more.