Southwest Airlines executives have stated that they are anxious regarding the return of the 737 MAX 8 return to regular service. CEO Gary Kelly said to the media that the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the need to return aircraft to the current operational fleet, as the demand just is not there at present.
Speaking during a media briefing from Southwest’s Dallas headquarters, Kelly estimated that it would take some 135 days to prepare its 34 MAX 8s for service, pointing to a likely return to revenue flying no earlier than that first week of April.
“To be blunt about it, the pandemic makes this a pretty casual decision in some ways because we have a surplus of aircraft right now and it’s not like the business needs to press these airplanes into service all at once,” said Kelly. “But I’m anxious to get them back flying.”
Southwest will likely end 2021 with roughly the same number of airplanes it currently has in use now given the business outlook for next year, explained Kelly. Any deliveries from Boeing of new MAX 8s will simply replace aging 737-700s.
“On the pandemic aspect, we have a pretty good line of sight for how things are going to wrap up for November, a pretty good line of sight for December, and, honestly, I’m not real optimistic the first quarter will improve much from the current levels of demand” added Kelly. “And all that means is we’ve got a bunch of surplus airplanes.”
Southwest Airlines technical operations vice president Landon Nitschke stated that it will take around 280 maintenance hours to “de-preserve” and perform ground checks with pilots on the 34 airplanes, all in desert storage in Victorville, California. Then, he said, the airplanes get ferried to one of Southwest’s main hangar cities for “make ready” checks, install emergency equipment, and perform any further maintenance beyond what the air directive requires before departure from Victorville.
“We deployed a small team to start that process,” said Nitschke. “So, we do have Southwest mechanics in Victorville working the aircraft as we speak.”
Southwest’s outlook appears to be extremely cautious compared with other US airlines who have quickly announced their intention to get the MAX into service as quickly as possible. United Airlines, for example, said it expects to start flying the first of its 14 AX 9s during the first quarter of next year. American Airlines has scheduled the first of its 24 MAX 8s to begin scheduled flights on 29 December.
