Those of you who read Sunny Abercrombie's post CAN WE BOTTLE THAT SMELL? will remember when she asked the question, "love that new car smell?" Well I'm here to tell you that there is nothing like the smell of a new Boeing 737-700.
On September 26, 2006, aircraft N257WN 
was delivered to Southwest Airlines from the Boeing Company, and upon its arrival in Dallas, it taxied onto the ramp just outside of the maintenance hangars. The Mechanics then towed it into the hangar. If you had any sense of smell, it would not have taken you any time at all to realize that there was a new airplane in the hangar.
Why would a brand new airplane just delivered from the manufacturer be brought to the maintenance hangar you might ask? When an airplane is delivered to us from Boeing it is airworthy, but there are a few items that are added. Richard "Blaze" Blazek, 
one of our veteran Mechanics of 23 years was part of the crew that performed the work on the new airplane, and he explained to me the process that we go through when we receive a new airplane:
"We have to do a MAKE READY check; that's when we add other items to the airplane that Boeing did not, items like trash cans, ice buckets, coffee makers, the onboard wheel chair, and decals/placards, just to name a few. 
We also make some other minor modifications. It's less expensive for Southwest to finish preparing the aircraft for service than having Boeing do it."
Let me hear from you if you are one of the lucky ones to fly on one of our airplanes that has the new smell of leather.
Comments
Have ya'll thought about aquiring some of United's old 737-300 or 500's that they recently retired?
I have a BIG problem with the snacks being served on Southwest. My husband and I fly every six weeks, and have, in the last year, noticed that every bagged snack has PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OILS as ingrediants.
The CDC and my CARIOLOGIST have stated that there is absolutely NO safe level of PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED oils acceptable.
My question is...if Southwest "luvs" us the way we love them, why are they trying to kill us??????
I'm wondering what the original southwest aircraft looked like from 35 years ago, was it the same as now? Also, every 737 has the same overhead bins, cealing panels, restroom interior etc. Like, what features do you have to or boeing has to to make it a southwest aircraft? I also used to assume that the brown colored southwest planes are older and not as modern like the seats are different colors and the aircraft is more old and worn out. I know some of the brown planes are older but I was on a brown plane that looked the same as the new canyon blue color scheme. Dou you refurbish aircraft, repaint, or just mix the colors around. And what does the plane have when it comes from boeing. I think southwest should offer more snack choices like blue chips, chocolate chip cookies etc. And even on flights from new york to california do you still just have peanuts and crackers? Overall, I love southwest cause you are cheap fares and friendly service.
averages are figured like all averages. add all the ages of all the planes together and divide by the number of planes.
example
5 air planes with ages of 1,1,3, 10,5 =20 divided by 5 = an average age of 4 years old
or
2,3,1,6,6,=18 divided by 5 = 3.6 this goes for how ever many planes or items you want
Hello! I just wanted you to know that I love flying southwest. For me flying can be somewhat difficult b/c I have a fear of flying, but the crew on the flight do calm my nerves and make the flight more enjoyable.
I did have a question though... you say that you're average age of you're planes are 9 years.. does that mean most of them were built in the 90's?? I know the the 737-300 were made in the 80's, so does that mean that you're 737-300 were made in the 80's or you have newer ones that were made in the 90's?? Like how do you figure out you're average?? I just want to make sure that they are just as safe as the new 737-700. Thanks!
will southwest be hiring mechanics for that location?
Hi Carmine,
By the end of this year...
hi ,
when will that new hanger for southwest be finished in dallas.
Hello SWA FamilyÃ
That's a good site. It's interesting to use as you can see what planes are flying over your house. I've been playing around with it for a few months. I just punch in my local airport code and it shows me what's above (of course with a 6 min delay). Pretty neat. As far as the buffalo-Orlando route goes I have used Southwest several times and sometimes it's a 300 and sometimes a 700.