N830MH

http://www.blogsouthwest.com/video/s...g-colorado-one

We have a big surprise for you guys. This is first brand new colour scheme of Colorado One.

It's looking so good! I like it lots! This is special new color scheme. They already have Florida One, Arizona One, Maryland One, Illinois One and etc.

chuckworth

That's some pretty sweet livery! Not sure yet if this bird is my new favorite over Illinois One.

MrMan

Maryland is my favorite, and this is from a Texan. I'm supprised it took this long. Denver is WN 5th largest market and carries more passengers than UA or F9

OC_Matt

Seems to me they have a lot of FL planes to paint already. Why repaint a 2005 737 that was placed in service 2006? Looking at the video I saw the tail number N230WN. Google search shows it as the 5000th 737 built.

OPNLguy

Probably because N230WN was already scheduled for a paint job as a part of its regularly-scheduled MX check (heavier)... That's how N713SW and N715SW became the new Shamu aircraft (to replace the -500s N501SW and N507SW). Lone Star One is currently a -300 (N352SW), and when that gets retired, I imagine another -700 that's scheduled for a re-paint will become the "new" Lone Start One. Ditto for other special paint schemes that are currently -300s, and which will eventually be retired.

Colorado One (along with every other SWA aircraft) will also eventually get a new registration number that does away with the SW, WN, and other associated 2-character suffixes.

N830MH

All,

Here is the link from Denver News:

http://www.850koa.com/cc-common/news...ticle=10341403

And now, it is on WN page:

http://www.southwest.com/html/southw...N000000120822A

As you can see colour livery scheme is on the website.

They already have Illinois One, Nevada One, California One, New Mexico One, Florida One, Maryland One, Arizona One, Lone Star One and now this Colorado One, too.

I heard they will start painted Georgia One, Washington State One and etc.

Bigez747

What does that mean? Why would they change the registration numbers?

OPNLguy

With 550+ aircraft of differing 737 variants in the overall fleet, the existing numbering system no longer had the needed flexibility with the addition of new -800s entering service. Under the old system, the -800s would have been N800xx, N801xx, etc. with "xx" being "SW" (but maybe not, since Skywest also uses "SW" registration suffixes). And what would happen the next -800 after N899xx? N900xx? Nope, since the 900-series numbers are used on some of the -700 fleet (along with the -700 series, -200 series, and -400 series).

A better system was needed, and the new systen is based on a 4-digit number, and a single-letter suffix versus the old 3-digit number and 2-letter suffix. This started with the new -800s, and they all use an 8000-series number:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/South...a025190b7c1b51

http://www.airliners.net/photo/South...a025190b7c1b51

With the -800s, you'll notice that some start with N80nnX and some start with N83nnX. The first of the four digits ("8") signify a 737-800, and the second digit ("0" or "3) signify whether the aircraft is a non-ETOPS -800, or an ETOPS-equipped -800. The third and fourth digits are just sequential numbers, and the single letter suffix is just a letter with no specific meaning.

As the other fleets go through heavy MX, they too will get re-registered, and the new scheme also allows easy identification of aircraft originally ordered by bw SWA, and those aircraft that SWA acquired from sources other than Boeing. Internally, aircraft will be identified ny the nose number, which will be the registration number, minus the single-letter suffix.

Bigez747

Great info. Thanks!
So will N83xxx or N80xxx be ETOPS? And I'm assuming this will also incorporate the AirTran 737 into the system. Will the letter be assigned arbitrarily or will all of the fleet have the same letter?

DXjr

Much like how Southwest has been putting WN on its suffixes, SkyWest has been putting SK in lieu of SW.

OPNLguy

I managed to mangle that up, even though I linked a picture of each...

N83nn for ETOPS-equipped (you can also see this on the nosegear door in the pix)
N86nn for non-ETOPS aircraft

The AirTran -700s also have special number ranges. On all the aircraft, the new single-letter suffix will vary and (AFAIK) will have no meaning.

DxJr, when the project is done, I imagine Skywest can have all the SW suffixes they want..

DXjr

Yay! (And they're going to need them as these new planes come online)

As a side note, you might as well go after CO's old straight number idents.

tracon

The building of Florida One.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v...eature=popular

Texas Booster

OPNLguy, when will WN complete selling off the 737-500s in the fleet?

OPNLguy

We're down to 15 or 16 left (from 25), and although I don't have an exact retirement schedule, my best guess would be that they'd all be gone by this time in 2014. Again, that's purely a guess.