Ive noticed many of you like southwest i was wondering how would you feel if southwest put in orders for longhual aircraft such a the 767 or a330? I kno they probably never would do this but i just wanna see some of your opinions if they did
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They probably wouldn’t ever! It would cost to much money and they have almost always had just the 737, so it would also be weird.
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They’ve only had 737 since the beginning (except for the 727 for just a couple of years) but they reach out to smaller cities and partly have low prices cause they only have to train their pilots for the 737
It would be amazing if they did but they won’t
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I know but it wouldnt be impossible as we saw westjet purchase their first 767s it was weird but ive adapted to their new fleet so i dont think itll take too long to get use to sw longhual fleet, but yes itll feel so weird ahah
It just wouldn’t work for them. A lot of their airports are small and buying that size a plane and only operating it out of certain airports wouldn’t make sense. Also, I’m not sure how picking your own seat and only economy would go on a 767. They would also need to retrain mantinience, airport crews, flight crews and just about all their employees.
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They could always go with an A321 or 757. Both can fly into smaller airports.
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There are some european budget airlines considering going longhaul in the future e.g Monarch, Ryanair.
There’s already too much competition in the US regarding long-haul flights though.
Long haul, low cost travel is tricky. Very few actually make decent money out of it.
I don’t doubt that they could do it operationally, and looking on the bright side they could give massive feed to their long haul operation.
Sadly though, the legacy carriers would spark a price war which would be vicious.
I don’t doubt they will be looking where they can really stretch the legs of the 737 MAX 7s and 8s - perhaps bypassing previous hubs and maybe flying international routes. But widebodies like the A330 / 767 are expensive, need to be flown constantly to pay their way and I don’t think it is worth it. It’s a hard way to earn marginal profits.
I think they will stick with what they are good at.
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Great reply!
The main goal for Southwest Airlines was to stick to much quieter airports, like KDAL/KMDW/KSTL. Airports without much competition. Adding a route like this would most likely have competition, which is what they are trying to stay away from.
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This may sound dumb but is KNUC a popular airport because when im on flightradar24 it doesnt show on the map and no flights fly to it?
No! It’s a military base.
Nope. Negative. Zilch. No way Jose. Not happening. Never happening. Besides the southwest livery on a different plane looks uuuggglllyy.
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To see how they would do, you should compare WestJet. They flew 737 and Q400 exclusively, but have now dug into 767 long haul routes. We’ll find out this year if the switch was worth it for them.
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I’ve always wondered that too. I would love to see the new Southwest livery on a 777,a330,757,767,787,a350
(Being sarcastic about seeing Southwest’s livery on a heavy)
But I wouldn’t mind them flying the a320 family
Oh right! I actually didnt know that thank you
Yeah itll be a tough for them long haul is very competitive but they do suit the 767
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Norwegian Air Shuttle are a prime example of a Budget airline going long haul.
Operate the B737 around Europe and have the B787 on longhaul ops out of LGW, amongst other European bases. HAve flown around Europe on them but not yet gone Trans Atlantic…mainly because bth Gatwick and Norwalk (where fly to and from) are the wrong sides of both London and NY respectively whilst LHR and JFK are better placed!