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What is the oldest plane Southwest flies?

Southwest's 737-700s are by far its oldest aircraft, clocking in at an average age of 17.4 years.



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The Company's fleet has an average age of approximately 12 years. In 2022, the Company's average aircraft trip length was 728 miles with an average duration of two hours. Southwest was the launch customer for the Boeing 737-700 in 1997.

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The first 737-700 entered service in 1998 with launch customer Southwest Airlines. The Boeing 737-700 is the basis for the Boeing (BBJ) business jet.In January 2006, Boeing introduced the long-range version, 737-700ER.

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The Venezolana Boeing 737 is one of the oldest planes still flying in commercial service. It was first used in 1978, making it over four decades old. Despite its age, this aircraft continues to operate under the banner of Venezolana, an airline based in Venezuela.

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On October 1, 2018, Southwest Airlines took delivery of its final Boeing 737-800. All deliveries for the foreseeable future were expected to be Boeing 737 MAX variants.

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An aircraft's age is based on when it was built. Here are the approximate ages for an aircraft: Old aircraft = 20+ years. Standard aircraft = 10-20 years.

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Global aircraft fleet - average age of retirement 2005-2019 In 2019, the average age of passenger jets removed from the global commercial fleet was around 22.8 years.

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Despite the FlyersRights concerns, the FAA, Boeing and many pilots deem the 737 MAX safe to fly and many airlines have the plane in service. “I can say categorically that the 737 MAX product is safe,” then-acting FAA administrator Bill Nolen told members of the US Senate Commerce Committee in March.

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?| Boeing 737-800 is a widely used aircraft, and its safety record is generally good. The 737 series of aircraft has been in service for over 50 years, and it has a strong safety track record overall.

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“If you could book a 737 500, and you find out it's a 737 MAX, technically they don't have to honor your request. … So you don't have a right to specify you are not going to go on a 737 MAX.”

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Because of the sheer intensity of the scrutiny the aircraft faced, the Boeing 737 MAX could be considered one of the safest in the world. In fact, among the dozens of models of commercial airliners around the world, it is likely the safest due to the amount of regulation testing that took place.

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Techincally, there is only one way for the aircraft to remain hanging motionless in the air: if weight and lift cancel each other out perfectly, and at the same time thrust and drag cancel each other out too. But this is incredibly rare. To stay in the air and sustain its flight, an aircraft needs to be moving forward.

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A ghost flight is when an airline operates a plane on a regularly scheduled route with little to no passengers - under 10% of capacity - onboard. This is most often done to make certain airlines can fulfill their contractual obligations so as not to lose one of their most precious assets - airport slots.

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346: On March 3, 1974, Turkish Airlines Flight 981, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, crashed in a forest northeast of Paris, France. The London-bound plane crashed shortly after taking off from Orly airport; all 346 people aboard died.

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