Often an airline will purchase or lease an aircraft from another airline and keep the majority of the previous livery until it is re-painted or the lease is over. The result is a mixture of two airline liveries and are treasures of airline nerds. Southwest Airlines recently took a look back at some of interim liveries of the past. I thought it would be interesting to see who can match the livery with the previous airline the aircraft was with.
Without cheating, how many liveries can you match with the previous airline? It is ok to guess and be wrong (I guess one wrong myself — oops)
PLANE #1: This Boeing 737-200 photo was taken in 1991
PLANE #2: This Boeing 737-200 was first leased in 1983, then purchased by Southwest in 1984
PLANE #3 This Boeing 737-200 was leased by Southwest for about a year in 1987-88
Plane #4: This Boeing 737-200 is unique not having the white "Southwest" on the tail due to the tail being white
Plane #5: This Boeing 737-300 is pretty tricky (and the one I missed)
I will give you the weekend to guess in the comments and on Monday I will reveal the answers. Prizes? I will give you a shout out and you will have the satisfaction of being a true airline livery nerd!
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Images from Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airline's green logo
No, Southwest isn’t re-painting their exteriors green, but they are going green with their interiors. The airline is testing a Boeing 737-700 with innovative ideas to reduce weight and to use recycled material.
To start, there are new seats that are about 5lbs lights than their predecessors. This cuts down weight, which cuts down on fuel, which reduces the aircraft’s carbon footprint. It also has carpet that is made of 100% recycled materials and can be replaced in sections, instead of needing to replace the whole aircraft’s carpet, reducing waste.
Materials are not the only change. The aircraft is also kicking off Southwest’s new recycling program, where more items used on the plane will be recycled.
More and more airlines are going green, which is a good thing. However others are trying to reduce weight, to cut costs, to increase profit. Then they say they are doing it to cut down on carbon emissions and as a bonus they can say they are saving the environment. However, Southwest is going a step further, saying this goes past the testing phase and goes fleet-wide.
I talked to Marilee Mcinis, who does Public Relations for Southwest and she stated, “The usage results and customer feedback will help us make a decision on how best to move forward with these materials. We are testing for durability, comfort, etc., so we want to make sure we pick the best product available to meet all of our standards. This is a true test, so we don’t have a particular end date in mind.”
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Source & Image: InteriorDesign.net
The sign outside of my first Wi-Fi flight back in May.
Yes! I am coming out and predicting that someday Wi-Fi will be free on at least some airlines. I am not talking first class or business class; I am talking about free Wi-Fi for the entire plane. Let me explain…
Southwest Airlines is the newest airline to announce adding Wi-Fi to their flights. Many other airlines already have some or all of their fleets wireless. It took the industry a long time to start becoming wireless, but now almost all US airlines have at least a few Wi-Fi equipped aircraft. The rapid growth shows capitalism at its best. When one airline has Wi-Fi, it provides an obvious advantage over those that do not. However, when almost all airlines in the United States have Wi-Fi, where does one airline stand out over another?
Think about long-distance on landlines (you remember those, right; where wires connected your phone calls?). It used to be mighty expensive to call based on time of day, then there were flat rates per minute, then you could just pay a monthly fee and call whenever and whomever you wanted. The same phenomenon happened with cell phones. Minutes used to be costly, now companies have plans with unlimited minutes, rollover minutes, etc. As competition grows, so do the benefits for the customer.
With Wi-Fi on the airlines, it is a bit more complicated; airlines don’t run the Wi-Fi, independent companies do. Some airlines like American, Delta, and AirTran are using Aircell’s GoGo tower-based Wi-Fi service, but Southwest is using Row44, which is a satellite-based system. Either way, Wi-Fi companies are competitive businesses that have to charge the airlines, so the airlines would need to absorb the costs to provide free Wi-Fi.
I know, with airlines charging fees for everything today, why would an airline ever be willing to absorb the costs? I think we are in a unique time. I don’t expect all these fees to be around forever (at least I hope not). All it would take is one airline. One airline to announce they have free Wi-Fi. It might be years from now when this happens, and it might take a few more years for other airlines to follow. However, this is how things have become cheaper and free in the past. With so many airlines in the US, it is feasible that one might want to come across as a “high-tech”, “medium frills” airline.
Hopefully I am right in this one, but if I am not, I am still willing to pay $13 to access the internet on a flight!
Southwest Airlines flight leaving from Las Vegas, NV
A passenger getting naked on a plane is almost becoming old news. However, I am not tired of blogging about them, so I shall continue. This week’s nudity is brought to you by a Las Vegas bound guy and was found on the Airline Biz Blog.
Southwest Airlines flight 943 left from Oakland and was heading towards Las Vegas when a male passenger exposed himself to a female passenger. That wasn’t enough for him so he decided to hit another female passenger. This was enough for the people aboard and he was restrained.
The crazy man decided this would be a good time to get completely naked and rowdy. Passengers and crew became more aggressive in their restraining and the pilot decided to return the plane back to Oakland.
Image: gTarded
Vietnam Airlines Boeing 777 being towed at Frankfurt
American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and UPS have agreed to use up to 1.5million gallons of synthetic diesel made from plant waste per year. The fuel would be used to fuel their ground service equipment at Los Angeles International Airport.
Rentech Inc. will be supplying the alternative fuel starting in 2012, made mostly from urban yard waste and clippings.
Most people only think about aircraft causing much of the pollution in air travel, but there are thousands of support vehicles at each airport that also cause harmful emissions. Rentech is currently in talks with other airlines and airports to increase the fuel’s usage.
Image: Thomas Becker