Alaska Airlines will retire its fleet of Boeing 737-700 passenger jets next year and replace them with larger 737-800s, a change that will add both seats and cargo space on its Southeast Alaska routes, including the multi-stop "milk run" flights that link small communities in the state's panhandle.
The plan was outlined by Scott Habberstad, the airline's manager for the Alaska market, at the annual gathering of the Southeast Conference, a nonprofit organisation of regional government, business and community leaders. The details were reported by the Wrangell Sentinel and carried by other Alaska newspapers, including the Peninsula Clarion and the Juneau Empire, on October 10.
Eleven of the oldest jets in the fleet
Alaska currently flies 11 Boeing 737-700s in passenger service. At about 25 or 26 years old, they are the oldest aircraft in the airline's fleet, Habberstad said. The carrier will begin phasing them out early next year and expects to complete the retirement by the end of summer.
The 737-700s will be replaced by aircraft drawn from Alaska's fleet of almost 60 Boeing 737-800s. "We're always bringing on new airplanes," Habberstad said, noting that the airline operates almost 240 Boeing twin-engine jets in total.
Alaska also operates three all-cargo 737-700 freighters, and those will not be retired, Habberstad said. The airline's dedicated cargo fleet also includes two larger 737-800 freighters.
As for the retired passenger jets, Habberstad said they will likely head south to a warmer and drier climate. "Most will probably go the graveyard," he said, a reference to the desert storage yards in Arizona that hold hundreds of retired commercial aircraft.
More seats and more belly space
The swap brings a significant increase in capacity on every flight. Alaska's 737-800s are configured with 161 seats, 37 more than the 124 seats on its 737-700s. The 737-800 is also about 20 feet longer and has roughly 50% more space in its belly for passenger luggage and freight.
That extra cargo room matters a great deal in Southeast Alaska, where many communities are not connected to the road network and rely on air service for both passengers and goods. Habberstad said the additional belly capacity will be helpful for seafood shippers, an important industry across the region. The newer 737-800s are also equipped with faster in-flight Wi-Fi than the older 700s.
The Southeast Alaska milk run
Alaska generally uses its 737-700s on multi-stop flights through Southeast Alaska. A well-known example is the morning "milk run" that leaves Seattle and stops in Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg and Juneau before continuing to Anchorage, then makes the same series of stops in reverse in the afternoon.
These flights involve short hops between small airports, frequent takeoffs and landings, and quick turnarounds, often in challenging weather and mountainous terrain. The communities along the route depend on them for travel and shipments, so a larger aircraft on the same schedule means more seats and more freight space on each stop.
A simpler Boeing fleet
Retiring the 737-700s also removes one of the smaller variants from Alaska's mainline passenger fleet, leaving the airline to serve these routes with the more numerous 737-800. Operating fewer variants can simplify crew scheduling, spare parts and maintenance, although Alaska has not given a financial breakdown of the change.
Alaska has not said exactly which flights will switch to the 737-800 first or published a detailed transition schedule. Passengers in Southeast Alaska can expect the bigger jets to take over gradually from early next year, with the last of the 737-700s leaving passenger service by the end of summer.
Comments
Loading commentsβ¦