Southwest Airlines Considers A220 as 737 Max Replacement | Hacker News Reader

Southwest Airlines Considers A220 as 737 Max Replacement

finance.yahoo.com

31 pointsPaulHoule13 comments

Looks like clickbait to me. Original title: "Is Southwest Airlines Looking Beyond the Boeing 737 MAX?" Two paragraphs in: "However, Southwest's flirtation with the Airbus A220 -- or any other model for that matter -- is probably not very serious."

I hope it happens.

I rode in an Embraer E175 and was impressed at the comfort compared to a 737 even though it is a smaller plane. It literally was like Buck Rodger's spacecraft in comparison.

The A220 is a similar class of plane but even more technologically advanced. If Southwest doesn't pick it up, JetBlue will, and will put them out of business.

The comfort and amenities have little to do with the base aircraft selection; it has to do with how the carrier chooses to outfit them, how old the fleet is, and how well-maintained the planes are both long-term and between flights. One of the reasons Southwest's flights are so cheap is because they remove all the legroom, all the amenities, shrink the restrooms, etc. No matter what they order, you're still going to be packed like a sardine into a dirty, no-frills environment.

Not true.

Go to the official web page of any airliner that isn't the 737 and you will see passenger comfort as an attribute of the plane... But Boeing doesn't have anything good to say about the comfort of the 737.

For one thing, the 737-class plane is at a local minimum of seat width. If you make the plane just a little smaller, you can fit five across and get a little more width in economy. Airlines can't do anything to take that away. (And don't need to, because A220 class planes have lower cost per seat mile)

Also thanks to the limitations of 1967 aircraft design, the 737 has a circular cross section. "Widebody comfort" is really about having more height, not more width.

A220-class planes have better industrial design that fits the human body better -- the 737 is like the old American boat cars that were huge on the outside but small on the inside, the A220 is like the Japanese cars that were small on the outside and big on the inside.

A220-class planes also have improved comfort because of fly-by-wire riding out turbulence and with modern geared turbofans they are an order of magnitude quieter than 737-class planes.

More comfort, not just for the passenger, but for people on the ground who hear them go overhead.

You might find it hard to believe, but if you ride in an A220-class plane you will be a believer. That's why Boeing has tried so hard to make sure you won't get the chance to fly in one.

There are a number of categories to comfort. The aircraft itself makes a big difference. However, what the airline choses to do is also a massive factor. Seat width, AV boxes, padding, leg room, color choices, cabin temperature, entertainment selection, headphone quality, and so on.

And note that JetBlue, as a discount airline, has invested in a better cabin than many airlines.

Also note that JetBlue owns no 737 airliners.

There's only so much you can do with a 1967-era chassis. It's just like cars: putting nicer seats and stereo in a 1967 body isn't going to make it like a 2019 car.

Good points! Let's give these Bombardier/Airbus planes a chance. Boeing had better get serious about buying the rest of Embraer and promoting their metal.

From a passenger point of view the A220 (Bombardier C100 / C300) is a fantastic experience.

Big windows, very comfy seats, which are broader than even in a wide body and with only one middle seat per row, large overhead bins and an overall really pleasant flying experience. At least on short - and medium-haul flights.

I'm lucky enough to fly it rather often, since Swiss was launch customer and ZRH my home base.

edit : changed redundant word

Never mind that none of Southwest's current pilot's would be able to fly while recerting on the A220, or at least would be able to fly less since they'd have to work on building up A220 flight hours.

Hopefully everyone will stop buying Boeing planes and they'll go out of business. They deserve it for what they did with the 737MAX.

Boeing employs over 150,000 employees. Do you think they all deserve to lose their jobs? Do you think the millions of connected family members that would be impacted by that deserve it?

Airbus doesn't have enough capacity to fill the global demand for new airplanes.

If Boeing goes out of business, there will suddenly be 150,000 skilled and experienced employees, plus a couple of huge airplane factories available for a large airplane manufacturer to buy up at a bargain-basement price and immediately put to work building better airplanes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com