It would take some genuine statistics skills to show correlation for any increased likelihood of maintenance-related problems at Southwest. To some degree, Southwest does run their fleet a bit harder than American, United or Delta (talking stage lengths here, and number takeoffs/landings per frame). According to the MIT airline data project, WN's average flight length was 754 miles in 2017, compared with 1,240 miles at AA, 1,141 at Delta, 1,589 at United, 1,236 at Alaska and 1,070 at JetBlue. In fact, they have the shortest average stage length of any US carrier, including Hawaiian Airlines.
What's that mean? More wear/tear on the airframes which could possibly explain fuselage fatigue incidents (SWA812, SWA2294) and maybe engine metal fatigue (SWA1380 and a related incident in 2016 on an MSY-MCO flight). I have to believe that every negative news story creates more incentive for an airline to get things right. Southwest has so far managed to maintain their brand reputation. I cannot believe anyone at the company would knowingly put their own life, nevermind their customer's life, at risk. They run a professional operation.
That said, there certainly have been a string of news stories that give me pause about Southwest. I'm not planning much if any travel on them this year even in markets where they make sense for me. Between the mechanical-related delays and their on-time performance in markets where I'd be likely to use them (LAX-SFO, for example) I've got other options I'd prefer.
Last edited by dll; Feb 28, 2019 at 2:59 pm