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Southwest Airlines Question(s)

SXDFC From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 2009 posts, RR: 19
Posted (4 years 4 months 20 hours ago) and read 2734 times:

Hey Guys:

I have two questions regarding Southwest, if you guys have any ideas or answers please share..

(1) I noticed that all of the Southwest 733's N657SW-N699SW are second hand a/c (including N308SA and N317WN ( I have flown on a/c 317) ) and I wanted to know why Southwest took delievery of that many second hand a/c when I am sure they could have gotten them direct from Boeing at the time.

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Photo © Manas Barooah

(2) I noticed that next year Maryland One will be 5 years old, so does that mean she will get a repainted anytime soon along with any other N2**WN a/c?

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Photo © Cary Liao

Sorry if my second question seems to be all over the place...

ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.

9 replies: All unread, jump to last

FutureSDPDcop From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 1291 posts, RR: 5
Reply 1, posted (4 years 4 months 19 hours ago) and read 2668 times:

Quoting SXDFC (Thread starter):
1) I noticed that all of the Southwest 733's N657SW-N699SW are second hand a/c (including N308SA and N317WN ( I have flown on a/c 317) ) and I wanted to know why Southwest took delievery of that many second hand a/c when I am sure they could have gotten them direct from Boeing at the time.

I'm gonna take a guess and say availibility. I'm guessing it takes Boeing some time to produce aircrafts.

However, if other airlines have airplanes they are tryin to get rid of, I'm sure there is less of a wait to pick them up second hand rather than wait for Boeing. Back when the economy was good, Southwest was adding routes left and right (I have no source other than being a member on here and reading threads) so they needed whatever aircrafts they could get their hands on to expand.

Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21478 posts, RR: 24
Reply 2, posted (4 years 4 months 19 hours ago) and read 2611 times:

Quoting FutureSDPDcop (Reply 1):
Quoting SXDFC (Thread starter):
1) I noticed that all of the Southwest 733's N657SW-N699SW are second hand a/c (including N308SA and N317WN ( I have flown on a/c 317) ) and I wanted to know why Southwest took delievery of that many second hand a/c when I am sure they could have gotten them direct from Boeing at the time.

I'm gonna take a guess and say availibility. I'm guessing it takes Boeing some time to produce aircrafts.

Don't forget WN inherited at least 20 733s when they bought SLC-based Morris Air in 1994. Many of the 733s you refer to are ex-Morris Air aircraft. WN did acquire a number of other used 733s from various other sources.

One of the ex-Morris Air 733s below.

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Photo © Michael Durning

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Photo © David Oates

As a sidenote, one of WN's own 733s (not an ex-Morris Air aircraft) is named "The June M. Morris" after the co-founder of Morris Air along with David Neeleman, who later founded JetBlue and was their CEO until 2007. Last year he started yet another airline, a low-cost carrier in Brazil called Azul. He was also a consultant involved with the creation of WestJet in Canada.

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Photo © Matthew C. Lyons

[Edited 2009-01-21 21:13:05]

KPHXFlyer From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 413 posts, RR: 1
Reply 3, posted (4 years 4 months 10 hours ago) and read 2368 times:

Also, in 2007 or early 2008, they acquired 2 of Ford Motor Co.'s 737-700s. For a while they flew as white aircraft with word Southwest in black letters on the tail.

They were indeed adding routes and increasing frequencies all over the place in the last couple of years.

Re: Maryland One...I'm not sure what it is, but their speciality planes (such as Maryland One) tend to hold their paint better. I saw Maryland One at PHX in late December and she still looked very clean and had very clear colors.

As for repainting the normal blue ones, they do send them to Boeing to get painted (at least that's what it looks like). I have noticed the Canyon Blue scheme seems to weather the poorest on some A/C

Also, I recently flew on California One and she still looked pretty fresh. She's being California One since at least May 1998 and only had her tail repainted.

OPNLguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR:
Reply 4, posted (4 years 4 months 10 hours ago) and read 2350 times:

Quoting SXDFC (Thread starter):
(1) I noticed that all of the Southwest 733's N657SW-N699SW are second hand a/c (including N308SA and N317WN ( I have flown on a/c 317) )

I don't think "all" of that range are of the non-3H4 variety. As others have mentioned, the ex-Morris birds are in that range, as are (or were, in some cases, since we've had some retirements) the ex-AA/OC birds. I think there a couple of ex-Air Berlin birds in there as well. If I'm not mistaken (and I'm not at work), there are also several -3H4 birds in that same range.

Cubsrule From United States of America, joined May 2004, 21239 posts, RR: 19
Reply 5, posted (4 years 4 months 10 hours ago) and read 2330 times:

Quoting OPNLguy (Reply 4):
I don't think "all" of that range are of the non-3H4 variety.

Actually, it looks like they are. The last -3H4 was 656. Here are the aircraft in that range that I believe are still in service.

657 -3L9
658 -3L9
659 -301
660 -301
661 -317
662 -3Q8
663 -3Q8
664 -3Y0
665 -3Y0

669 -3A4
670 -3G7
671 -3G7

675 -3A4
676 -3A4
677 -3A4
678 -3A4
679 -3A4
680 -3A4

682 -3Y0
673 -3G7
684 -3T0
685 -3Q8

687 -3Q8
688 -3Q8
689 -3Q8
690 -3G7
691 -3G7
692 -3T5

694 -3T5
695 -3Q8

697 -3T0

699 -3Y0

I can't decide whether I miss the tulip or the bowling shoe more

BayAreaBlue From United States of America, joined Jan 2007, 257 posts, RR: 0
Reply 6, posted (4 years 4 months 7 hours ago) and read 2202 times:

Quoting SXDFC (Thread starter):
(2) I noticed that next year Maryland One will be 5 years old, so does that mean she will get a repainted anytime soon along with any other N2**WN a/c?

Typically paint jobs like that tend to stay around for 6 to 8 years. AS has the mickey aircraft, tail N784AS that is approaching or is over 6 years old and it is still looking good.

EMBQA From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 9286 posts, RR: 13
Reply 7, posted (4 years 4 months 2 hours ago) and read 1961 times:

Quoting SXDFC (Thread starter):

1) why buy new when you can get a great deal used....????
2) not when they still have tan planes flying around. Airlines paint on condition, not on a fixed schedule

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"

Vegasplanes From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 778 posts, RR: 2
Reply 8, posted (4 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 1805 times:

Quoting EMBQA (Reply 7):
2) not when they still have tan planes flying around. Airlines paint on condition, not on a fixed schedule

I was under the impression all WN aircraft were in Canyon Blue with the exception of the 3 aircraft left in tan/orange for sentimental reasons, ie HOU, DAL, SAT.

PHLBOS From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 7253 posts, RR: 25
Reply 9, posted (4 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1596 times:

Quoting Vegasplanes (Reply 8):
I was under the impression all WN aircraft were in Canyon Blue with the exception of the 3 aircraft left in tan/orange for sentimental reasons, ie HOU, DAL, SAT.

Let's not forget the specilaty and state-themed WN birds out there. Big grin

I believe that most of the special schemed 737s (I'm not talking about ones w/just a decal placed on) that were out there before the Canyon Blue livery rolled out have since had the tails repainted to the new c/s; although Triple Crown One (which could have somewhat inspired the Canyon Blue look) might still have the old Desert Gold tail.

IIRC, Nolan Ryan One may still be in the old scheme as well.

Aside from TC1 and NR1 and the three fore-mentioned 73Gs, I believe there might still be some other Desert Gold 737s out there that will ultimately be repainted.

"TransEastern! You'll feel like you've never left the ground because we treat you like dirt!" SNL Parady ad circa 1981

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