Will Killing the MAX-7 Save Southwest?!

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Southwest Airlines, with its fleet of 737’s, has been one of the most loyal Boeing customers. But with empty seats starting to cause serious financial issues for the airline, their future could be in serious trouble.
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Below you will find the links to videos and sources used in this episode.

SOURCES

#Mentourpilot #Mentournow #southwest

[tlspud]

SWA used to be the "cool" airline. I was on the last SWA flight of the night out of Las Vegas to Ontario, bitd/pre-911, with about 12 other passengers--half of which were SWA employees. Mid-flight, the captain comes into the cabin and explains that, according to their calculations they had a good chance to beat the SWA record for flight time from LAS to ONT. He explained that, from our prospective, it would only involve a couple of banks steeper than we were used to and, though it was totally safe, he would only do it if everyone agreed. The SWA deadheading staff was incredibly enthusiastic so we all agreed it was okay. Anyway, it was totally exhilarating doing those steep banks and we did, in fact, beat the company record by about 3 minutes. There was such a rowdy celebration when they announced we had done it. After we parked, the crew came out and we all chatted about it for about 10 minutes before we got off. That kind of stuff could never happen these days.

[phxpaul]

Here’s a tidbit for yah. Breeze was founded by aviation entrepreneur David Neeleman. He founded Morris Air. Morris air was sold to Southwest. After his noncompete clause expired, he founded JetBlue etc etc. the guy has founded 5 airlines over the last 30 years. He definitely has contacts at Southwest

[PsRohrbaugh]

Southwest: how much would it cost for an Airbus with a Boeing cockpit 🤔😂

[frankcooke]

Have they considered just upcycling? All you really need is an old lawnmower engine, a ceiling fan, a couple of deckchairs, and you're good to go.

[kamakaziozzie]

Southwest is a low cost carrier if your airport has a non-stop to the destination. If no direct flights are available they can actually be more expensive than the big three.
It really depends on the priority SW puts on your regional airport.

[cabiv]

Southwest also made a name for itself by flying from Dallas Love Field and Houston Hobby after DFW and Houston International opened. Both older fields were located close to downtown, which saved lots of travel time. For a long time, Southwest was the only airline flying from Love.

[the_ratmeister]

About 17:45 I had a massive moment about Breeze, that's definitely the right merger if there is going to be one. Especially as Jetblue shifts a large part of its focus to transatlantic routes and the ULCCs keep their larger planes. The only other way to get enough A220-300s (Which is clearly the right aircraft) would be to convince Jetblue or Delta to sell them, and I don't see that happening.

[farview]

Two things that make Southwest my only airline of choice: No fee for the first 2 checked bags, and no additional fees for changing flights. If either of those go away then so do I. I have indeed noticed that on my last few flights with SW, there have been quite a few empty seats (which is nice for us passengers but not great for the airline).

[vintagewoodshop]

Could always walk down to Brazil and buy all the 195 E2s (146 seats, no middle seats) they want. On top of that most of the pilots they would hire from the regionals would already by type rated on it.

[Daniel-vyc]

I normally don't care for commentary as my favorite content to watch. I call them talking heads. But this guy is knowledgeable and does his homework.

[Sevenfeet]

I'm a little surprised that it wasn't mentioned that Southwest has had experience, even recent experience buying a competitor in part to get ahold of their fleet. I' m referring to the 2014 acquisition of Airtran which itself merged with struggling Valujet years earlier. In addition for Southwest getting ahold of some valuable gates and destinations that they didn't already have, Airtran has two aircraft types in their fleet: the Boeing 737-700 (perfect for Southwest) and the Boeing 717-200. The 717 was the last major design under development at McDonnell Douglas before the Boeing merger. The 717 was the most recent version of the DC-9 family, originally to be called the MD-95 before the merger.

So in 2014, Southwest made news in that they were going to try to operate with two fleet types, much like they had briefly done with the 727 decades earlier. But this flirtation with a second type would not last. Southwest wrote the book on operating one type and they eventually conceded that the benefits of one type outweighed any flexibility in operating the 717. And the 717 wasn't that popular among customers anyway and Boeing eventually discontinued it. Southwest's 717 fleet was sold off to Delta which was still flying DC-9 family planes (MD-88s and MD-90s) at the time.

So while Southwest may be flirting with the idea of taking on another fleet type to solve a short term problem, I think the they may be looking at Breeze to break into the EU market, much like the new destinations they got when they purchased Airtran.

[DR-jozs]

If they have to train pilots on a new aircraft type anyway, why not the Embraer E2? The world needs a third major aircraft manufacturer urgently.

[anitavillacorta]

it's funny how southwest went from being a boeing's client, to be a serious variable on boeing's financial business; the airline has always been used as an example on bussiness managment when it comes to low cost operations (because of having all the same aircrafts), so its this change will be very interesting !!! great job as always

[TucsonDancer]

I cannot imagine the chaos it would cause for crew scheduling if Southwest added a different Aircraft type into the mix!😳

[larryschweitzer]

About 1965 I flew on PSA, Pacific Southwest Airline, from San Francisco to LA for about $12. They lined up their used airplanes on the tarmac and we walked out to them . Planes were filled one after another. Basically a bus line operation with cheap airplanes that had been refurbished. They only flew within CA.

[cobblewobble]

I don't think anything could make me lose faith in Southwest. I'm a devoted Southwest customer through and through. Costs are low (debatable, but i'd say that's more of a result of the current US economy), Saftey record is impeccable, Southwest staff is friendly, Pilots are professional, two free checked bags, and literally everything else. Southwest is perfect to me.

[KetogenicGuitars]

In the nut shell:Souhtwest needs smaller point to point aircrafts because its portion of fleet of smaller aircrafts is getting old(19y) and shrinking too. They can buy Breeze which happens to have 90 much more efficient and fresh Airbus A220-300s. At the same time SW would diversify by making a future proof move (by paying little more for daily logistics) to have access to two manufacturers.

[kevinrusch]

Sooner or later, they're going to stop making 737s, and Southwest will have to take on a new type. The A220 family is a great candidate.

[paulbrancato]

Southwest was limited to Texas and adjoining states by the Wright amendment, which was put in place to protect DFW. Being a start up, that may have worked to Southwest's benefit. But, if you wanted to fly beyond that limit you had to have a plane change.

[CPALSONLINE]

I really enjoy ALL your videos. I currently work for Spirit Aerosystems and I don’t have to tell you about all the quality issues that is public and some are internal. I think private/ regional aviation is going to pick up. That being said could you cover private jets like Cessna/Beech Gulfstream. Etc. Thank you for all your excellent content!! Dennis