30 737-300's From Us

[justaumechanic]

Ok all you Southwest Employee's.. The word on the street is WN is going to
take 30 737-300's from the Leasing companies that are getting their aircraft
returned from US.

What we are hearing is WN is going to fly them "As Is" with Boeing Support. WN
is going to exchange them on a one for one basis with -700's as they become
available.

Confirm or Deny?

Ad to that one quick quesiton. Are any of the Southwest -300 aircraft equiped with EFIS. If memory serves me the entire WN fleet of -300 and -500 are Analog (round dial) cockpits very similar to US fleet of -300's. True or false.

Thanks..

 

[SWAFA30]

The rumor cropped up a month or two ago....based on the spike in pilot hiring projections that occured around the same time it appeared to have "legs". However, what I heard is that WN MX took a look at the aircraft in question and found they were not up to company standards and from a MX standpoint would be more trouble than they were worth. Based on the chatter over on Flightinfo.com, pilot hiring projections have been recently scaled back to numbers more in line with the new -700 delivery schedule.

As for the cockpits of the -300/-500 fleet, they are indeed analog.....my understanding is that the EFIS displays on the -700 have been programmed to mimic the "look" of a round dial 737 classic to allow the pilot group to flow more smoothly between aircraft.

 

[swflyer]

Ok all you Southwest Employee's.. The word on the street is WN is going to
take 30 737-300's from the Leasing companies that are getting their aircraft
returned from US.

What we are hearing is WN is going to fly them "As Is" with Boeing Support. WN
is going to exchange them on a one for one basis with -700's as they become
available.

Confirm or Deny?

Ad to that one quick quesiton. Are any of the Southwest -300 aircraft equiped with EFIS. If memory serves me the entire WN fleet of -300 and -500 are Analog (round dial) cockpits very similar to US fleet of -300's. True or false.

Thanks..

[post="252910"][/post]​

Well, it depends on who you ask.

First the easy answer. All -300 and -500 aircraft are 'round dial'. Matched the -200's, which were history Jan. 17. One of my favorite past rumors was that SWA was watching Delta's 13 -300's, as they were also 'round dial' examples. To Repeat: VERY old rumor

To the question about USAirways -300's, I'd say NO. USAirways press has said they're getting rid of maintenance hogs first, stripping away costs as they can. I know several -300's at USAirways were involved in that foreign paint shop mess. Why SWA would want to take on problem children, I don't know.

SWA has publicly stated, in the past, that it's only looking for -700's. That would change if the right opportunity were to appear, but I'm not thinking we're there.......yet.

If you'd like another related rumor, I was told that AA's former -800 positions were being altered. Some were bought by Ryan Air and others were being converted to -700 positions for SWA. Repeating: THIS IS A RUMOR

h34r: Just because my handle is swflyer doesn't mean I'm Gary Kelly in disguise. h34r:

Thankyouverymuch.

 

[justaumechanic]

Thanks for the info..

Clears up the Analog Cockpit question. I won the bet at work!!

As for US -300's.. Like Southwest we fly some of the oldest -300's on mother earth. Yes they are getting to be some maintenance hogs..

As for the paint incident. This is only a problem on the Ex-Piedmont aircraft
that were stripped back when the merger was going on. They are the
737-301 aircraft. USAir 737-3B7's do not have the problem.

The only maintenance hogs are the old aircraft. (early delivery in 84,85,86) The later delivery aircraft are in pretty good shape. (88,89 time frame)

As for what US Airway is getting rid of.. It is not always the old ones.. It is what aircraft is coming up for its heavy check. They don't want to spend the money on the check so they run to the judge and whine. He lets them give them back. Makes not difference the condition of the aircraft. Ole and its gone..