WN to retire AirTran brand by end of the year.

[chucky]

Fresh off a record annual profit announced Thursday,Southwest Airlines said it is on track to retire theAirTran brand by the end of the year.
The Dallas-based airline, which is the busiest carrier atOrlando International Airport, said it plans to convert AirTran's seven international markets and remaining domestic markets to the Southwest brand by the end of 2014.
 
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-cfb-tourism-0127-20140127,0,7768735.story

 

[WorldTraveler]

and with this decision it sounds like 2 or 3 dozen 717s will be parked until DL is contractually required to take them unless they exercise early, right?

one of the swa mechs:
what is the timeframe for the 717 mods after they are removed from service at FL until they are delivered to DL?

 

[700UW]

WN is not doing the mods, it is being outsourced to a vendor then delivered to DL.

 

[WorldTraveler]

yes, WN is outsourcing the mods but WN is responsible for them and the planes belong to WN/FL until the mods are done. The mods and checks are for WN to do and are part of the contract that DL and WN signed.

I'm interested in hearing a wn mech's perspective on the time between when the planes leave service and when they are delivered to DL.

 

[swamt]

Who freakin cares WT.  You, or Delta, can have them.  WE (SWA) never wanted then anyway.  Yea, yea ,yea, you heard SWA bark about them early on, but guess what, that was all a ploy to get greater discounts from Boeing and other manufacturers while they held them.  It was a very thorough bus decision, and creative move to get what SWA wanted.  You keep claiming that the 717's going to Delta was drastic loss for SWA.  What you don't know is, it was a blessing for SWA to rid of the 717's.  Why do you think it was so EASY to off load them for the agreement made?  I will give you one clue-engine-maint-contract-and-seat-count.  By all means;  enjoy them while you can,  LOL...

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

one airlines junk is another airlines treasure

 

[WorldTraveler]

Who freakin cares WT.  You, or Delta, can have them.  WE (SWA) never wanted then anyway.  Yea, yea ,yea, you heard SWA bark about them early on, but guess what, that was all a ploy to get greater discounts from Boeing and other manufacturers while they held them.  It was a very thorough bus decision, and creative move to get what SWA wanted.  You keep claiming that the 717's going to Delta was drastic loss for SWA.  What you don't know is, it was a blessing for SWA to rid of the 717's.  Why do you think it was so EASY to off load them for the agreement made?  I will give you one clue-engine-maint-contract-and-seat-count.  By all means;  enjoy them while you can,  LOL...

uh... I haven't ever said that losing the 717s was a drastic loss to SWA. We know WN wanted to get rid of them given that WN is subsidizing the leases and paid for the mods and maintenance checks before they come over.

As long as WN can find sufficient capacity - which they will over the long term - I don't care what they fly. But WN execs have acknowledged that pulling the 717s from the fleet will hurt WN's capacity over the next year.

How about you pull the fangs back in and just answer the question, if you know it, regarding how long it takes for a plane between when it is pulled from FL service and when it is delivered to DL.

That is the only thing I asked in the thread.