Summary
- Southwest Airlines recently took delivery of its 200th Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
- The airline has seen a promising delivery rate in recent months, receiving 25 new aircraft in just over three months.
- Southwest Airlines continues to modernize its fleet by regularly phasing out older aircraft and replacing them with new models.
Another new week, another new aircraft, this time the Boeing 737 MAX 8, brings the type’s total to a whopping 200 for Southwest Airlines. The brand-new aircraft was delivered to the airline on August 18th to its Phoenix Base. The airline exclusively operates the Boeing 737 fleet, with over 800 aircraft across all variants.
The 200th Boeing 737 MAX 8
On Friday, August 18th, Southwest Airlines took delivery of its 200th 737 MAX 8, with a flight from Boeing facilities in Washington State to an airline base in Phoenix. The aircraft N8890Q (MSN 42687/Line Number 8672) departed Seattle's Boeing Field (BFI) at 10:00 local time as flight WN8500. It then landed at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) at 12:21 local time for a total flight duration of two hours and 26 minutes.
A promising delivery rate in recent months
Southwest Airlines received its 175th Boeing 737 MAX 8 on May 11. Since then, in just over three months, the airline has reached yet another milestone with its 200th aircraft. The airline received 25 new aircraft in the last 14 weeks. That’s just under two aircraft each week. The continuous supply of the new generation of aircraft speaks volumes about the airline’s massive operations and its aim to keep upgrading the fleet.
Southwest Airlines has a healthy order book of MAX aircraft, with a total order of 462 examples. That includes 270 of the MAX 8s, and the remainder 192 are the shorter (but with greater range) MAX 7s. While no MAX 7 has been delivered yet, the airline is still awaiting the remaining 70 of the MAX 8s.
Data from Boeing also suggest that the variant remains undecided for hundreds of MAX aircraft on the order books. It is not uncommon for the operator of this scale to select the exact variants much closer to the production time, having better visibility of the most recent needs.
A total of 812 aircraft are in Southwest's fleet. Of these, 783 aircraft are currently operational. The airline operates 412 737-700s and 207 737-800s. It is noteworthy that the carrier has historically operated Boeing 737-200, -300, and -500 models too.
A constant fleet upgrade
The current average fleet age at Southwest is 11.7 years, as shown by Planespotters.net. However, as aforementioned, the company is taking delivery of new aircraft every week, which is continuously lowering the average fleet age. Moreover, the airline continues to phase out aging 737-700s, withdrawing them from service and putting them into storage at a rate of around two to five per month.
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Southwest Airlines holds the title of the world's largest low-cost carrier by fleet size, with Ryanair narrowly overtaking it by passengers served. It is also the third largest airline in North America based on the number of passengers flown. The airline operates scheduled services to 121 destinations in the United States and ten destinations internationally.
What are your thoughts on the 200th Boeing 737 MAX 8 for Southwest Airlines? Tell us in the comments section.
Source: Nik's News