Southwest Airlines News, gate expansion at the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. The airport has undergone new renovations since it lost the Trans World Airlines hub following its acquisition by American Airlines back in 2001. The new look includes a paint scheme and chairs sporting the colors of Southwest Airlines, which now dominates the airports traffic these days. In fact, Southwest is operating so many flights out of St. Louis now that it will be opening 2 new gates this week. The new gates reflect Southwest Airlines new dominance over the airport. It occupies all of Terminal 2, and controls nearly half of the airports passenger traffic. The 2 new gates, numbered E31 and E33, are expected to handle 12 flights a day in the beginning, expanding to 16 in June when new flights are added to Cleveland, Oakland, and Portland, Oregon. This will give Southwest more than 100 daily departures to over 40 nonstop destinations from St. Louis.
Southwest Airlines News, 737 Fleet Renewal plans
Southwest Airlines plans to use some of the extra revenue it has generated the last few years to accelerate its fleet renewal plans. Southwest ended 2015 with 704 aircraft in its fleet, including the addition of 19 new Boeing 737-800 and 24 Boeing 737-700 aircraft. It also retired 4 of its older Boeing 737’s during the year. In December, the company updated its planned delivery schedule to include 33 more 737-800 planes, and converted its remaining order of another 25 737-700 aircraft to the 737-800 model. The updated delivery schedule is estimated to increase their aircraft capital expenditures by $400 million going forward. Southwest Airlines currently has an average aircraft age of 12.4 years. This leads its US competitors United Airlines, which has an average age of 13.6 years, and Delta Air Lines with an average age of 17.1 years. American Airlines now has the best average fleet age of the big four, coming in at 11.2 years. Southwest Airlines reported a net income of $2.4 billion in 2015, a massive increase over the $1.4 billion it reported in 2014.
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