DALLAS—Southwest Airlines will begin retrofitting the interiors of its Boeing 737 fleet comprised of more than 800 aircraft on May 1.
In January, Southwest confirmed plans to enhance its fleet by installing premium seating and changing to an assigned seating boarding procedure. The new interior modifications, which will include extended legroom seats supplied by Recaro and larger bins provided by Boeing, will be completed by the end of this year. Work will also include the installation of new carpet and vinyl and re-pitching seats.
“We have to touch a little more than 800 aircraft between May 1 and Dec. 31 so that the company is ready to go with the extended legroom product,” says Landon Nitschke, senior vice president of technical operations at Southwest Airlines. The carrier plans to start selling the assigned seats in the third quarter with the intention of operating them in the first quarter of 2026.
To complete this, the airline’s Tech Ops division will convert anywhere from 7-10 aircraft per night across various locations, including hangars at its home base in Dallas, as well as in Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta, Orlando and Denver. Nitschke says Southwest has undertaken several prototypes for the interior retrofitting process and he envisages each individual aircraft being completed overnight.
The airline will also open a new line maintenance hangar in Baltimore next month. The facility, located at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, will be able to accommodate up to three 737s and has apron space for up to eight 737s. Nitschke says Southwest expects to induct its first aircraft May 8.
According to Nitschke, the decision to establish a presence in Baltimore was partly driven by the volume of flights the airline undertakes to and from the city and the necessity to have coverage for aircraft, particularly in cold winter months.
“Baltimore is less about scheduled C checks or scheduled overnight maintenance, and more about a line maintenance hangar or a hangar for aircraft to remain overnight just to get them out of the weather,” he says.
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