Southwest Airlines is legendary for its use of the 737 and it could even be claimed that they made the 737 what it is today.  The exclusivity of the 737 to their fleet is also legendary although they have owned subsidiary companies that flew other aircraft.

TransStar Airlines used the DC-9 and MD-80.  Now, as owners of Airtran, they have the 717 (which is really a DC-9) as well.  But all of those aircraft were flown in the subsidiary airline’s livery.

Question:  Can you name the other aircraft that Southwest has flown in their own livery?

The answer after the fold: (more…)

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Well, it’s starting to bubble out in the media that Southwest is close to making an initial order for the 737MAX.  Rumours say it will be a 100 aircraft order.  If negotiations are beginning to finalize, I think it will be for far more aircraft than that.

Southwest currently has 550+ aircraft in its fleet.  Of those, 195 are not Next Generation 737s (-700s).  Those aircraft need to go sooner than later but Southwest only has 133 orders for 737s and of those, 20 are for the -800.  (Southwest also holds 37 options and 98 purchase rights.)

Of the next generation fleet, 370 are -700s and while those seem awfully new, quite a few are getting rather old as well.  Southwest was the launch customer for that aircraft and owns the first one built.  They don’t need replacement in the next 3 to 5 years but they will need replacement in latter part of the decade.

My prediction is an order for 200 and another 200 to 300 options.  I think they’ll choose the CFM Leap56 engine and I think the mix will be weighted towards the 737 MAX 8.   I don’t think the MAX 7 will be ignored but Southwest is growing and it is able to fill the MAX 8 but it will still have a healthy and relatively new fleet of -700 aircraft for its short haul and long/thin routes to use. 

Southwest actually doesn’t generally order “big”.  Typically, they order a few aircraft at a time.  But if they choose the MAX (and they will), there is no reason to not take advantage of Boeing’s desire to get a major airline into the order list.  American Airlines was a hail mary pass and now Boeing needs a credible 737 user to endorse the aircraft.  (Lion Air wasn’t it.)

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The Communications Workers of America have filed with the NMB (National Mediation Board) to have an election to represent American Airlines passenger service agents.  The NMB will decide who should represent the passenger service agents and then set an election.

American Airlines says it respects the rights of its workers to organize and points out that it has excellent communications with this work staff. 

I rather suspect that what American Airlines would like to say is “Give us a break.” 

No doubt the CWA senses it has an opportunity here in that American can hardly afford to fight this battle very well during bankruptcy and I’m sure the CWA becomes a much more attractive choice for passenger service agents who probably feel pretty strongly that they would like to have a seat at the table when it comes to AA’s bankruptcy reorganization.

I’ve already pointed out that AA’s major unions all won a seat on the unsecured creditors committee and when you have such a seat, you have a major voice in who and how the airline is run during reorganization.

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Lufthansa has announced its intention to use the A380 on flights to Houston next year in August.   The airline currently uses the 747-400 for a once daily service between Houston and Frankfurt.  That’s an increase of capacity of at least seats.

It’s difficult to guess whether or not that is justified but I suspect that this might be more about retiring 747-400 aircraft and an A380 can provide the lift for the same costs. 

Lufthansa is also a 747-8i customer and I think we’ll see that aircraft used on routes like that as it is introduced into the fleet.  However, it is possible that United and Lufthansa will engage in a strong codeshare and funnel more traffic onto the Lufthansa flight.  United (Continental) currently flies a 767-400 on the route and it is quite possible they’ll reduce that flight to a 767-300 or even a 787.

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JetBlue is coming to DFW. 

I’m rather surprised that they could not find one more Caribbean island to start service to but here we are:  JetBlue is coming to the DFW area too.

Now, it’s not a real deep commitment.  It’s 3 daily round trips from the Dallas / Fort Worth area to Boston and they’ll be using their Embraer E-190 100 seat aircraft for those flights.  The aircraft itself isn’t bad, particularly on JetBlue where minimum seat pitch is 33″ and the seat widths are just a hair wider than what is found on the typical A320 aircraft.   That said, it’s one inch less seat pitch than the standard JetBlue A320 and JetBlue’s main attraction, in my opinion, is the level of seat comfort offered.

I’m always pleased to see new entrants in the DFW area and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these flights showed up a  week after American filed bankruptcy.   I also expect to see others swooping in to pick up business on high fare American Airlines routes in the near future.  This is one moment in time where American can’t hit back and many airlines will see significant opportunity. 

I fully expect that the guys at Virgin America are having numerous conversations about both Dallas and Chicago.

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It can’t have been the best news for new American Airlines CEO Tom Horton when the APA, AFPA and TWU unions got named to the unsecured creditors list.

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As a result of the October snow storm delays that occurred at several Northeast airports, the FAA is moving to address those delays rapidly as it finds itself entering the Winter season.

Does this mean more punitivie measures against airlines?  No.

The delays experienced a month ago were the result of diversions to airports that overwhelmed the airports’ abilities to deal with the aircraft and passengers.  Boston refused additional diversions, for instance, due to problems they were experiencing and that caused Hartford to become more overwhelmed than is usual. 

How will they do it?  By bringing those diversions airports into teleconferences and planning sessions when those areas are about to be affected by weather.  Oddly enough, this isn’t done much to date.  But if airlines and airports are part of the discussion as to what is happening at what airport, they’ll be much more aware of conditions at airports they are considering for diversions. 

For example, if airlines had known that Hartford was becoming overwhelmed, they likely would have chosen any number of other airports in the Northeast to divert to.  And if those airports knew they were becoming the airport of choice for diversions, they will be much more likely to manage themselves appropriately including communicating earlier on when they are becoming overwhelmed.

It’s a good, practical solution and fairly easy to implement.  The people involved from the FAA to airlines to airports are all professionals and capable to making rapid decisions based on changing conditions.

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Airbus COO John Leahy is opining that United Airlines will ultimately add the A380 to its fleet because, in his opinion, it is the only way to be competitive in the Asia Pacific markets United serves.

I would suppose that anything is possible but I would also offer that I think this is highly unlikely for the near term.  By that, I mean you shouldn’t go looking for a United announcement about this over the next 5 years. 

United already struggles to figure out what to do with its 747 aircraft (as do most US based airlines) and that’s based on the fact that people here in the United States are looking for direct, non-stop flights rather than trips that require a flight to a “hub” city first.

The A380 might ultimately fit into the Asia Pacific strategies for both United and Delta but I don’t see it right now.  Other than the ability to “concentrate” more passengers onto a single flight, the A380 doesn’t offer these airlines anything more than what they already have in their current and planned fleets.  The idea that people *want* an A380 because it is an A380 is a bit foolish at best. 

What people want is market competitive inflight service and the best available travel time.  That can be accomplished profitably with the 777 and 787 fleets that these airlines will have.

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One of the things to come out of American Airlines’ bankruptcy filing is that they intend to ask permission to get out of 24 aircraft leases.  That would be 20 very old MD-80 series aircraft and 4 Fokker 100 aircraft. 

All are currently parked in Roswell, NM. 

American has had those Fokker aircraft parked for a very long time and never found buyers or lessors for them.  The MD-80 aircraft are just plain worn out and too costly to fly. 

It’s not a stupid move on the part of AA with respect to its costs.  It will, however, no doubt anger lessors who were earning quite a nice revenue stream on parked aircraft.  It isn’t always wise to anger the leasing world when you have big plans for fleet renewal.  If it remains only these aircraft, the damage to reputation will be miminal at worst.

I think, however, this is just the tip of the iceberg.  I suspect we’ll see many, many more MD-80 series added to that list for no other reason than they have little or no value to AA when they can get shiney new, efficient airplanes from Boeing and Airbus.

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So, WestJet has confirmed that it was the winner of one bundle of La Guardia airport slots in the recent auction (as a result of the Delta / US airways deal) and some sources say that JetBlue won the other two bundles. 

I find this disappointing.  If JetBlue was the high bidder, I have to ask how we’re better served by an airline already fully entrenched in the North Eastern corridor gaining more of a foothold in two strong markets? 

On the other hand, how often can Southwest afford to make low ball bids to enter slot controlled markets?  (Presuming it did bid and I feel sure they did.) 

Yes, I wanted Southwest to win those slots.  I wanted to see pressure on airlines such as JetBlue and United to get with the program and start competing more aggressively again.  I think both airlinese have acted to consolidate their positions without attempting to actually, you know, really grow into new markets.

The trend of entrenchment isn’t going to serve any public interest.  It will stave off bankruptcies for SuperLegacy airlines and even allow them to earn fair sized profits.  I’ve nothing against profits but I’ve seen the results of entrenchment first hand.

I live in the DFW area where Southwest is entrenched at Love Field holding a death grip on regional flying and where American Airlines has a stranglehold on national flying.  Let me tell you that it is neither fun nor affordable when an airline is entrenched into a market to the exclusion of every other airline.

And that’s what we have going on in the Northeast Corridor.  Delta (JFK and La Guardia) is gaining step by step in the New York area with JetBlue (JFK and now La Guardia) the incumbent (and rather lazy) LCC carrier.  United Airlines has a death grip on Newark Airport.  

In the Washington DC Area, we have dominance by US Airways (National) and United Airlines (Dulles).  This isn’t good.  We aren’t promoting healthy competition and we aren’t allowing the most efficient airlines to serve these routes.

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