Currently, American LCC giant Southwest Airlines (WN) operates a fleet of 818 aircraft, which I'll break down a bit more below:
737-700s: 374 in fleet | 143 PAX capacity 737-800s: 205 in fleet | 175 PAX capacity 737 MAX 8s: 239 in service (166 unfulfilled orders) | 175 PAX capacity 737 MAX 7s: 0 in service (307 unfulfilled orders - WN will receive the first ever MAX 7 pending FAA approval)
Ditching the NGs
The 737NG are going to be gone from Southwest by 2031, but that doesn't mean they're gone from the workforce. They aren't all that old, and they'll still have years on their working life. The secondhand aircraft market is incredibly lucrative. Airlines like Sun Country thrive on older aircraft, as they're tens of millions of dollars cheaper, but no less safe, then planes fresh off the Renton assembly line. With hundreds of NGs flooding the market, prices will drop considerably. This could have great potential for less financially able airlines to get aircraft, like operators flying in Central Africa and Southeast Asia.
I agree! The MAX is far superior to the NG in my opinion, in terms of passenger comfort. It’s notably quieter - you can hold a conversation at a normal volume without issue. In fact, I talked with my grandma (who’s hard of hearing) for a good hour on a MAX right behind the engine without even having to raise my voice.
Thank you. We’ll definitely see the NG around for decades to come, so I’m not mourning the loss of the NG from WN too much.
They have been using the MAX for a good few years now. The MAX is much cheaper to run and more efficient than the NGs, so it’s a no - brainer for an airline.
I can almost say with 100% certainty that Sun Country will end up with some of them. They always looking for cheap NGs, and they’ll be flooding the market.
Actually, I didn’t! I read the article I liked Monday morning, and submitted this topic before we had our conversation.
