Bloomberg reports that vowing to “avoid a repeat of catastrophic holiday delays that stranded thousands of passengers last year, Southwest Airlines Co.’s leader said the company was ‘absolutely ready’ for an impending travel crush.” Company CEO Bob Jordan said the carrier has overhauled its operations since last year’s debacle, and has “added workers and improved training to new cold-weather equipment and revamped technology.”
Full Story (Bloomberg)
Tag: Boeing 737-800 Planes
Southwest, United Cut Thousands of Spring Flights
The Dallas Morning News reports that Southwest Airlines “and other airlines are cutting thousands of spring flights from schedules because of serious headwinds from high fuel prices, staffing challenges and other ongoing supply chain constraints.” The airline has already “axed 14,500 flights from its March through May schedule,” and “on Tuesday cited ‘continuing challenges with available staffing.’” The airline “also said business travel continues to suffer.” Also on Tuesday, “United said it was cutting its capacity for the rest of 2022,” while “Alaska Airlines and Las Vegas-based Allegiant said they were cutting flight schedules by about 5%.”
Full Story (Dallas Morning News)
Boeing’s 2021 Deliveries to More than Double from 2020
CNBC reports that The Boeing Company “said Tuesday it delivered 34 new planes to customers last month, putting it on track to more than double 2020’s tally this year.” Boeing “delivered 302 aircraft this year through November, already close to twice as many as the 157 it handed over in all of 2020 during the depths of the coronavirus pandemic and when the worldwide grounding of its 737 Max after two deadly crashes lasted for most of the year.”
Full Story (CNBC)
Southwest Airlines Exercises Option for 34 Additional 737 MAX 7s
Aviation International News reports that Southwest Airlines “has exercised options on another 34 Boeing 737 Max 7s, bringing its firm order total for the smallest Max variant to 234, the company reported Tuesday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.” The airline “said it expects to take delivery of all 34 of the jets next year, bringing its 2022 Max 7 delivery total to 64.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Boeing Receives 100 737 MAX Orders from Southwest
Reuters reports that Southwest Airlines “said on Monday it had reached a deal with planemaker The Boeing Company for 100 orders for a variant of the 737 MAX aircraft, with the first 30 jets scheduled for delivery in 2022.”
Full Story (Reuters)
737 MAX Customers Hold Off On Orders Amid COVID-19
Reuters reports that Boeing 737 MAX US and European customers, including Southwest Airlines, “signaled caution on their order books as they monitor demand in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.” Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly said, “If demand is going to be persistently depressed, we can retire and not need to take airplanes as replacements.” Ryanair also said Thursday that it does not have plans for additional orders for the jet, but would consider buying more if prices fall.
Full Story (Reuters)
Southwest Reinstates Half of Grounded Boeing 737-800 Planes
Reuters reports that on Thursday, Southwest Airlines announced that it returned nearly half of the 115 Boeing 737-800 aircraft to service that it had temporarily grounded. Southwest said that the planes were grounded “to enter the correct weights of the aircraft in question into the system and reset the program.” The weight discrepancy was 75 pounds, and the issue applied to 115 planes, according to Southwest.
Full Story (Reuters)