SWA B737-200 question

[AK737FO]

Got a question for any SWA drivers out there. I have heard that SWA keeps there 200's seperate from the rest of the fleet - in other words, all 200's are in one base and all 200 pilots only fly that airplane.

If this is true, where is that base? Does the airplane fly turns in Texas or is it sent out on the road like all the rest? How senior is the airplane / base? What is Southwest's time line for retireing the airplane?
Thanks for the info - I'm just curious if your operation is run like ours.
AK737FO

 

[canyonblue]

Yes, all in Dallas. Only -200 qualified pilots can fly those trips. All should be gone in January.

 

[T1bubba]

... all 200 pilots only fly that airplane...

All SWA pilots fly the -300/500/700 models. The Dallas based pilots also fly the few remaining -200's for one more month. For many years all pilots were qualified on the -200's as well as the other models, but as the -200 fleet started to draw down they moved all the -200's to HOU and DAL roughly three years ago. This summer they moved all the remaining -200 flying to DAL.

The Dallas base is extremely senior, but it has nothing to do with which aircraft they fly.

Hope that answers your questions.

T1