What Are Southwest Airlines' Oldest Active Aircraft?

Summary Southwest Airlines operates the fourth-largest fleet in the world, consisting solely of Boeing 737 models. The oldest Southwest aircraft is over 24 years old, with one having over 47,000 flight cycles. The Boeing 737-700 fleet is the largest for Southwest, with 376 active aircraft and a high retirement rate anticipated.

Southwest Airlines is the fourth-largest airline in the world by fleet size. Moreover, it achieves this with an all-Boeing 737 fleet. Today, it has a fleet of 821 Boeing 737-700, 737-800, and 737 MAX 8 aircraft, with an overall average age of 8.

3 years old. This (and all fleet data in this article) is based on data from ch-aviation . The oldest aircraft, however, is just over 24 years old, and the most utilized records over 47,000 flight cycles.

Recent retirements seem to support this as a maximum for now. The Southwest Airlines fleet Southwest Airlines has always operated an all-Boeing fleet. And for the most part, it has always been an all Boeing 737 fleet.

There was a brief period in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the airline leased variants of the Boeing 727. It has grown rapidly to become the fourth largest airline in the world. The Texan outfit has evolved well over the years.

The airline has operated all generations of the Boeing 737 . It started service with the Boeing 737-200 in 1971, operating 36 of the variant and retiring the last in 2005. it has been the launch customer for the 737-300, -500, and 700, and a major operator of the 737 M.