What Are Southwest Airlines’ Oldest Active Aircraft?

Southwest Airlines

is the fourth-largest airline in the world by fleet size. Moreover, it achieves this with an all-Boeing 737 fleet. Today, it has a fleet of 821 Boeing 737-700, 737-800, and 737 MAX 8 aircraft, with an overall average age of 8.3 years old. This (and all fleet data in this article) is based on data from ch-aviation.

The oldest aircraft, however, is just over 24 years old, and the most utilized records over 47,000 flight cycles. Recent retirements seem to support this as a maximum for now.

The Southwest Airlines fleet

Southwest Airlines has always operated an all-Boeing fleet. And for the most part, it has always been an all Boeing 737 fleet. There was a brief period in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the airline leased variants of the Boeing 727. It has grown rapidly to become the fourth largest airline in the world.

The airline has operated all generations of the

Boeing 737

. It started service with the Boeing 737-200 in 1971, operating 36 of the variant and retiring the last in 2005. it has been the launch customer for the 737-300, -500, and 700, and a major operator of the 737 MAX.

Today, it has a fleet of 821 aircraft. As of September 2024, 786 of these aircraft are active and 35 are listed as inactive or parked. There are a further 191 737 MAX 8 aircraft and 386 737 MAX 7 aircraft on order.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

The fleet is made up of:

The oldest aircraft is N560WN – just over 24 years old

Across the whole fleet, the average aircraft age is 8.3 years. The oldest aircraft, of course, is one of the Boeing 737-700 fleet, with registration N560WN. This aircraft is 24.46 years old.

Looking in more detail at this oldest aircraft – N560WN. It was ordered new by

Alaska Airlines

in December 1999 and operated with the airline from May 2000 to May 2014. It has flown with Southwest Airlines since May 2014. It will not, however, make it to 25 years old. According to ch-aviation, it has a confirmed retirement date of the end of September 2024.

The most flight cycles – N785SW with 47,038

Interestingly, N560WN is the oldest aircraft, but has not seen the most flight cycles. For clarity, a flight cycle for commercial aircraft refers to one flight, or pressurization and depressurization of the cabin.

N560WN claims 38,007 flight cycles (this data from ch-aviation is current up to the end of May 2024). This is quite far behind the most utilized aircraft.

N785SW is slightly younger (but not much, at 23.91 years old) and has seen 47,381 flight cycles. N785SW was delivered new to Southwest Airlines in November 2000 – only ever operating with the one airline.

N785SW also records the highest number of flight hours – at 79,677. Only four aircraft in the fleet have recorded over 77,000 hours. Overall, 11 aircraft have recorded over 44,000 flight cycles, but only four over 46,000.

The Boeing 737-700 fleet

Southwest Airlines has been the largest operator of the Boeing 737-700. It has a current fleet of 376 aircraft, but has already retired 138 aircraft. For reference and completeness, here are the ten oldest aircraft in the fleet currently – with the total number of cycles and flights hours for each:

Of the 376 aircraft retired, this includes 11 aircraft retired so far in 2024. These aircraft show a similar age and retirement profile. Most of them also entered service in mid or late 2000, likewise being retired with around 24 years of service.

These retirements will no doubt pick up once the Boeing 737 MAX 7 starts to enter the fleet. Southwest is by far the largest customer for the MAX 7. With repeated delays, it is unlikely to receive any aircraft before late 2025 or 2026 at best.