SWA begins taking delivery of the new "stretch" 737's!

[NotUrsula]

USAToday has an article on the delivery of new larger "stretch" 737 that Boeing has built for SWA; it has about 40 more seats than the old model. This means more seats on existing flights, especially if you are in the NYC area or Boston.

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2012/03/southwest-shows-off-its-newer-bigger-737/653510/1

I'm looking forward to flying on these. They look pretty nice, even if the pitch is going to be a bit shorter.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Shoot, I remember the old models that were 40 seats smaller than the CURRENT ones

 

[NotUrsula]

I do, too. This is a bit different, though, because this model has some interior finish details that are borrowed from the new 787 Dreamliner. Here is Boeing's promo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUt8By6tcMA

 

[bookwormde]

So we have a 737 with the capacity of of the larger old 707s. Just shows how far engine design has gone, 2 engines in place of 4.

 

[jsilvers]

So we have a 737 with the capacity of of the larger old 707s. Just shows how far engine design has gone, 2 engines in place of 4.

Actually, the two-engined 757 and 767 are both much larger than the 737-800 that is now joining the Southwest fleet, and they had their first flights more than 30 years ago. Not to mention that the 737-800 entered service in the late '90s - so while it may be a novelty to Southwest, it's not exactly cutting edge.

 

[DebbieB]

I read a rumor on the flyertalk board that they may sell the AirTran 717's so that they can still have a 737 only fleet. Delta might be interested in the 717's to replace the ancient NW DC-9's they are still flying.

 

[bookwormde]

Yes I have flown the 800 but not with this interior. The 737-800 has much smaller intake engine that the 757 and 767 and within a few years we will see the next generation engine in service when the 737 MAX 8 enters the SW fleet.

It is just interesting to me that the 737 has gone form 900nm range to 3000nm range as well as almost doubling the seeating capacity through all the iterations over the past 40+ years

 

[jayhawk74]

Actually the pitch on the new -800s will be the same as on the -700s, even the -700s with the new seats that allow 143 seats on the aircraft.