No later than end of first quarter, I believe. I could be wrong.

Rolf

 

The new domicile just announced by Southwest is DENVER!! Opening in October, 2012.

 

Nice! Love to hear about more expansion. This will be good for a lot of crews.

 

Good to hear. I was hoping DEN would be the one. WN seemed to expand very rapidly out of there.

 

Just because there's a new base that's opening does not necessarily mean expansion. It simply means a reallocation of crews....for now.

 

hey Whackmaster look out the window the sun is actually shining !

 

My previous comment was not intended to be negative in anyway. It was simply to point out that just because an airline opens a new base, doesn't mean that they are per se expanding.

In this case, SWA is actually LOSING a net of seven aircraft in 2012, with 40 Classics going bye bye and 33 -800s coming online.

So there.....

 

I think,I hope you will be very happy there in the years to come,I hope you guys kick butt.

 

Ok buddy, point made.

But try to look at it this way.....
1) A new base will need crews and airplanes.
2) SWA just got 140 airplanes from AT.
3) Multiple -800's will be on property in the years to come.
4) Replacing 40 classics with 33 -800's is a gain in terms of seats for sale.
- Lets say for example that the 40 classics were all 137 seat airplanes. That would be 5,480 seats total. Now, with 33 737-800's with 175 seats each, that's 5,775 seats total. That's not even including that fact that some of SWA's classics only have 122 seats, which would make the number of seat difference even greater. Also, that's not including the fact that SWA might use some of the 800's on some transcon routes or over water routes (ETOPS) which will cost more to the paying passenger. All in all, it looks like a gain and expansion to me.

Yes, 727C47 was right......the sun is actually shining.

 

The operational number of aircraft is remaining the same. The extra 7 aircraft were spares that SWA kept due to mechanical issues with the classics.