A Southwest Airlines jet lands at Midway International Airport on January 28, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images)
Boeing and Southwest Airlines have been best friends for 50 years, but is Southwest looking for a new partner as it seems to expand its fleet?
Boeing reports $ 11.9 billion loss in 2020 amid pandemic, 737 MAX fights
Southwest Airlines is Boeing’s largest customer. It has over 700,737 in its fleet and has always been a Boeing customer. Southwest was the airline launching the 737-700 in 1997. It flies with a fully 737 fleet.
But as Boeing considers a new plane for more than 200 people, Southwest is looking for a plane for 150 passengers. It’s a perfect solution for the Max-7, but Boeing’s rival, Airbus, has its own small aircraft, the A-220, that can fit the bill.
Aviation diary The air current suggests that Southwest could make the leap to Airbus, which would be a devastating blow to Boeing.
“The relationship has been expanding over the years, with the MAX base and some other previous incidents, which have been very costly, so everything is not going well in paradise,” said Air Current founder Jon Ostrower, to KIRO Nights host Mike Lewis.
In this battle 300 new planes are at stake.
“It looks like Southwest is seriously considering opening a head-to-head competition between the MAX and the Airbus A-220,” Ostrower said.
Boeing and GE, which make the MAX engines, are currently in talks with Southwest to reach that deal, which most believe Boeing has yet to lose.
“If you get to this point, you get to a face-to-face competition, the senior Southwest executive we talked to about history and others said there’s a good chance Boeing could lose the overall competition,” Ostrower said. .
Southwest is also considering whether it is still a good business model to have an aircraft supplier in its fleet. If this plane landed, the southwest would have big problems. Southwest already has 200 MAX to order, and this order for 300 aircraft adds to that. Ostrower said this deal is essential for Boeing.
“If Southwest bought 300 more 737s today, Boeing would increase its order accumulation for the 737 by almost 10%,” he said.
For a bit of history, Boeing and Southwest had a similar dance in 2011 as the MAX was developing. This negotiation ended with Boeing’s decision to re-engine the 737 instead of building a new aircraft, and Southwest stayed with the company.
Boeing hopes for loyalty and long relationships can help win the day.
Listen to the full interview with Ostrower below:
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