SWA buys ATA II

[Freight Dog]

Boeing did not design the 700 for ETOPS routes. What AQ,AK and ATA have done is take an INTERCONTENTAL aircraft and started running the APU the whole flight to fly over water.
That's why Boeing came out with the -900ER.

-900ER doesn't have the short-field performance that the -700 does. NG's rock though!

BTW... we run APU until out of ETOPS airspace.

 

[Erndogg]

-900ER doesn't have the short-field performance that the -700 does. NG's rock though!

BTW... we run APU until out of ETOPS airspace.

I guess the 900ER would not work out of SNA for you guys. How's that -800 I see you guys have been using??

 

[Alcatraz]

Not true on the -700.

Full cabin, usual load of bags, ETOPS fuel, and blast off out of SNA (5700 ft runway) at max gross to Hawaii... no sweat!

Are your -700s equipped with 24k engines? And yes, I understand those engines can be "selected" to have various thrust limits (SWA's -700s were changed from 22k engines to 24k engines a few years ago... I think it's just a software or simple hardware change).

And isn't it the -800 that has weight issues? I think this has been ATA's problem on the Hawaii routes... they don't have -700s. Kind of ironic, isn't it... a smaller airplane may actually do a better job on a long haul route?

 

[On Your Six]

If SWA bought Aloha then it could fly those flights. Imagine how many flights it could fly between all of the Hawaiian airports and SoCal. Five daily flights from OGG to LAX. Three daily flights between HNL and BUR and on and on. I wonder if that is a consideration?

I presume SWA has already looked at Aloha given the fleet commonality and gate requirements - something must not be favorable if SWA hasn't already acted on it...

 

[Green Banana]

Alaska and WestJet fly the -800 with no problem out of Lihue and HNL, LIH is 6,500.
As for the power we use 27K with a SFP (short field performance) package from Boeing.

27k Flaps 25 takeoff is like an elevator. Fun stuff

 

[Reebo]

You guys fly it, not me. So I stand corrected! I'm just basing it on pilots telling me on days when the jetstream is 100kts on the nose (common in the winter) you have to block seats or limit bags.

You're thinking of the Airbus :laugh:

 

[Dan Roman]

You're thinking of the Airbus :laugh:

Good One!
And just for the record I'm not bashing you guys. My AQ freinds all lament that you could use bigger aircraft. That said, I think Yucaipa has proven they are in for the long haul and I think it's just a matter of time before you replace the 73's with something bigger.

 

[tzskipper]

Does anyone know the date(s) of the next LUV Board of Directors meeting?

Skipper

 

[Freight Dog]

Are your -700s equipped with 24k engines? And yes, I understand those engines can be "selected" to have various thrust limits (SWA's -700s were changed from 22k engines to 24k engines a few years ago... I think it's just a software or simple hardware change).

And isn't it the -800 that has weight issues? I think this has been ATA's problem on the Hawaii routes... they don't have -700s. Kind of ironic, isn't it... a smaller airplane may actually do a better job on a long haul route?

24k is the "default" setting on our -700's, but we have 26k bump available to us for ETOPS departures out of SNA, and RWY 9 out of SAN. We used 26k out of BUR as well when we flew there.

Yeah, it's the -800 that has weight issues, but usually only out of relatively short field. We operate one between OGG and SMF, no problems from what I hear - I steer clear of it since it doesn't fly to SoCal.

 

[FlyinGuy]

TZ,
I believe the next SWA BOD meeting is sometime this week...Maybe on Wednesday.