Also Shelves Plan To Send Work To El Salvador

The Southwest Airlines maintenance and inspection saga will never be confused with a soap opera. No soap opera moves this fast.

Just since March 6, Southwest faced a $10 million fine... responded defiantly... conducted an internal maintenance audit... met with the FAA... and more humbly announced it was looking into maintenance "ambiguities."

Now, the Wall Street Journal reports Southwest is reconsidering the pace at which it retires older planes.

Southwest is pursuing major structural upgrades to dozens of its oldest Boeing 737 jets in an effort intended to reduce long-term maintenance expenses. Through November 2007, Southwest counted 515 aircraft in its fleet, including 211 Classic models and the balance in recently-added -700 NextGen planes. Its average fleet age is 9.6 years.

"That is a fleet-management issue that we will continue to evaluate," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said recently, noting the cost of recurring structural repairs and inspections to its fleet of 737-300 and -500 Classic models "is a factor."

The final number of older planes retired "will depend on the success of that [refurbishment] program," Kelly added.

In related news, Southwest has also reportedly postponed plans to outsource heavy-maintenance work to a shop in El Salvador -- a move an airline spokeswoman told Bloomberg was made to avoid complications related to the inspection process. It should also win favor, at least for now, with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association... which had slammed the plan over safety concerns, and fears the shift would mean even more work sent overseas.

Southwest currently sends 60 percent of its maintenance and overhaul work to other facilities, but all of those are in the United States.

FMI: www.southwest.com