Originally Posted by
PotatoChip
Maybe. Maybe not. Will SWA only fly 737's domestically for the next 30 years? I can't say, but I highly doubt it. A lot happens over the course of a career.
Not knocking United at all, but many also had the wonderful opportunity to be furloughed for years.
Choose your own adventure.
The retirement numbers generate crazy scenarios that we havn't seen in the past.
Upgrade and furloughs? Using Tallflyer's retirement numbers -
Assume SW stays the same size. That's about an 11 year upgrade (2027).
Assume UA hires today and furloughs 20% tomorrow and stays that size. In 4.5 yrs the last UA guy furloughed would be recalled. Upgrade would be in 2025, or two years ahead of the SW guy hired at the same time who never got furloughed.
SW getting w/b flying? AA is adding a long haul city every month. It would take forty years to achieve AA long haul city pairs and UA's count is probably higher. And how senior would any future w/b flying be at SW? A newbie probably wouldn't see it for years and years.