Originally Posted by Njflyguy

Generally speaking, new aircraft allow for network growth and, ultimately, will allow older aircraft to be retired. In the case of the -700, certainly as they get high in cycles it's the logical thing to do. SWA announced in 2021 that the MAX is the replacement for both the -700 and -800 fleets over the long term. There are some 400 -700's alone, so it will be an iterative progression(10-15 years, according to the article)
https://simpleflying.com/southwest-7...etirement-max/

As for ETOPS, it doesn't make sense to certify more aircraft than needed for the mission, which is Hawaii at the moment. I don't think (someone check me...I could be wrong) that SWA serves any other routes that would require ETOPS.

Personally(just my opinion), I believe SWA will at some point augment with to completely different model if they wish to tackle Europe ETOPS routes. I know there are variants of the 737 that *CAN* fly from East coast USA to Western Europe. But there's a reason there aren't any airlines doing it right now.

Originally Posted by waterskisabersw

there are in fact airlines who fly europe to the United States on the max. Swa also plans to do Hawaii on the max7 so it will almost certainly be etops.