Last year marked half a century since Southwest Airlines commenced operations. In the five decades that have followed, the Dallas-based low-cost carrier has amassed a huge but uniform fleet consisting of more than 700 aircraft from the same family.
Dominated by the 737-700
According to data from ch-aviation.com, Southwest Airlines’ present fleet consists of an incredible 736 aircraft. Ths comfortably makes it the world’s largest all-narrowbody airline, as Simple Flying explored last year. Of these aircraft, 460 are examples of the Boeing 737-700, making up 62.5% of the fleet. Historically, it has flown another 54 737-700s.
Southwest’s 737-700s are by far its oldest aircraft, clocking in at an average age of 17.4 years. Data from ch-aviation lists 422 of the 460 examples as currently being active. Meanwhile, the remaining 38 of these twinjets are either in storage or undergoing maintenance.
According to data from SeatGuru, Southwest fits its 737-700s with an all-economy seating configuration that can accommodate 143 passengers. As Simple Flying explored last week, these seats are unassigned for passengers, with those first onboard getting the first pick.
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The 737-800 at Southwest
Southwest Airlines also has a higher capacity variant from the 737NG (‘Next Generation’) series at its disposal, namely the popular 737-800. There are presently 207 examples of this design in the carrier’s fleet, of which just four are inactive. Their average age is significantly lower than their smaller 737-700 counterparts, clocking in at just 6.5 years old.
SeatGuru reports that Southwest Airlines’ 737-800s have 175 seats onboard. Interestingly, this is noticeably lower than other low-cost users of the type. For instance, the examples flown by Ryanair, another large-scale 737-800 operator, feature 189 seats. Southwest’s less dense configuration and free checked bags have seen it win favor over its competitors.
The MAX’s growing role in a huge fleet
While the Boeing 737NG series represents the bulk of Southwest’s present fleet, the new 737 MAX line is also beginning to have an increasing presence at the carrier. Indeed, at the time of writing, there are already 69 examples of the 175-seat 737 MAX 8 in its fleet, all of which are active. These next-generation narrowbodies are three years old on average.
Going forward, the 737 MAX will find itself playing a more even role with the 737 NG series at Southwest, as the latter aircraft begin to age and eventually retire. The airline has a further 138 examples of the 737 MAX 8 on order, as well as 234 MAX 7s, per ch-aviation.
Historically speaking, Southwest has operated a further 397 aircraft. These primarily come from the Boeing 737 family, namely its -200, -300, -500, and -700 variants. However, 88 examples of the 717-200 have also flown for the Dallas-based low-cost carrier. All in all, its historic, current, and future aircraft constitute an enormous all-time fleet of over 1,500 jets.
What do you make of Southwest Airlines’ present fleet? How many of its 736 Boeing 737s have you flown on? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!
