Southwest Airlines has announced plans to retrofit the interiors of 372 Boeing 737s with the project scheduled to be completed by next year. The nation's largest discount carrier which serves the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport from Terminal 2/Humphrey, last week introduced a new cabin interior that is being "....done with customer comfort in mind," according to Chief Marketing Officer Dave Ridley.
In reality, the upgrade of the 737-700s in the Southwest fleet will enable the airline to add six seats per aircraft. Additionally, the interior changes will reduce the weight of each seat by six pounds, saving more than $10 million each year in fuel alone.
Utilizing the existing seat frames will save Southwest $50 million, and lighter weight eco-friendly e-leather seat covers and blue carpet tiles, plus aluminum accents will give passengers a more modern feel inside the aircraft. The carrier last renovated its aircraft interiors 10 years ago. The retrofit work can be accomplished by overnight work crews, so any impact on aircraft availability to the airline will be minimal.
The new aircraft interior will have seats that recline two inches instead of the usual three, but the seat-back pockets have also been redesigned so that there is added knee room. Improved back support for passengers will be provided by improved ergonomics. Another popular benefit is sure to be added room underneath seats as the life-vest pouch is now smaller than previous models.
After spending $60 million on the Boeing 737-700 interiors, the carrier will be retrofitting the AirTran fleet of Boeing 717 and 737 aircraft to the Southwest motif. Dallas-based Southwest begins serving the world's busiest airport, Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson International, next month, where AirTran, which it purchased last year, was the second largest airline.
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