EMB190s for SWA

[BDANtheman29]

In the Airways mag (July 2004) issue, I noticed an EMB 190 in SWA blue/red/yellow livery. Has Southwest placed an order for these aircraft or could Embraer just panted one of their jets so Southwest can look at them as they would be delieverd to them?

[Chillwinston]

SWA have commented that they are looking into the feasibility of operating the EMB190 on thinner routes.

Jet Blue have already ordered but presume it goes against Southwests ethos of operating one a/c type to keep costs down, be good to see how Jet Blue perform using the EMB190

[spagiola]

as Chillwinston notes, Southwest has said it is looking at Embraer 190s. I personally doubt it will happen.

As for the pic in Airways, I believe it's a computer manipulation.

[bmibaby.com]

Why not operate the 737-600?

It allows Southwest to get rid of the -200s and could be used instead of the `90s which involves bringing a whole new fleet type in.

[BDANtheman29]

I'm not positive, but I think SWA did away with the B732s a few years ago. The other thing we have to remember is that Southwest's fleet of B737s can't last forever and the 737 line will be cut off eventually. They need to look for a newer aircraft so they don't wind up having to replace their entire fleet at once.

[PaperTiger]

Southwest still had 21 737-200s in its fleet (http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/press/factsheet.html#Fleet) as of March 31st 2004.

[MarkD]

IIRC SWA consider 25 a/c to be an economically viable number for a type for crewing and engineering and thus the 200s are to be run out of SWA as soon as feasible.