Yes. This has already been briefed by Boeing as part of the plan. I believe there are only two or three carriers worldwide that have operating Max sims. The NG sims will be used for the training.

I the long term the same amount of pilots will need to be hired, maybe even more as some pilots will leave due to stagnation and/or we might get a sweet deal from Boeing on more MAXs. It is a relief that no more pilots will be hiring the line for awhile since we are currently shrinking capacity.

I think the one reason hiring continued for so long was that training capacity was limited, they can't just stop hiring then push new hires through at a higher rate when the MAX comes back. Apparently the company believes that when all MAXs are back on property we will be slightly understaffed.

What will be telling will be what happens with instructor hiring...with additional MAX sims and additional instructors, training capacity will be increased.

Hopefully the twitter world doesn’t catch wind of this, if it happens. Max pilots to receive extra (Max specific) simulator training in a different generation of 737 before flying the Max.

It's essentially the same airplane from a pilot standpoint with the exception of the engine starts and display configuration. I have flown the max and a NG within minutes of one another with zero difficulty transitioning.

Yeah, it takes a few seconds to figure out where the clock is..... that’s it.

The flight number disappearing after landing is my biggest gripe.

SWA does NOT intend to use NG sims for Max training, which is why they are adding an additional 3 Max sims to the old training center.

Source?
Even with 3 extra sims, training 10k pilots will take a while. Sims aren't cheap. They aren't buying 3 sims for a few months of training.

9 Sims total. 3 are fully operational and Level C certified, waiting on the FAA ungrounding to certify to Level D. 3 more sims being installed now. Final 3 sims to be installed in the old sim building by end of summer. So, 6 should be operational almost immediately after Feds certify the Max, 3 more operational within 6 months from that. Sounds like the extra 3 sims may have been acquired from another airline or simulator instruction company.

The source is flight ops. They intend to do the training in the 9 sims, hopefully in 2 hour training block. (Not sure yet what FAA will require) I have no knowledge but not sure the FAA will allow Max training in an NG sim. I doubt it.

The additional sims are coming from CAE in Canada somewhere.