{"id":19449,"date":"2022-04-01T18:13:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T12:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/?p=19449"},"modified":"2022-04-01T18:13:16","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T12:43:16","slug":"why-a-spicejet-boeing-737-max-has-southwest-airlines-wingtips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/01\/why-a-spicejet-boeing-737-max-has-southwest-airlines-wingtips\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a &#8220;SpiceJet&#8221; Boeing 737 MAX has Southwest Airlines wingtips"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The two airlines aren&#8217;t ones that you&#8217;d expect to see represented on the exact aircraft.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>SpiceJet and Southwest Airlines are both key low-cost players in India and the US, their respective homelands. Furthermore, at both carriers, the Boeing 737 MAX series is starting to play an increasingly important role. Nonetheless, you perhaps wouldn&#8217;t expect to see a SpiceJet plane with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.southwest.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Southwest Airlines<\/a>&#8216; wingtips.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"spice-west\">What has happened to a&nbsp;737 MAX&nbsp;bearing the US  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"332\" src=\"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Spicejet.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Spicejet.png 640w, https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Spicejet-600x311.png 600w, https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Spicejet-300x156.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption><strong>Aviationa2z.com<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Nonetheless, as seen in the picture above, this is just what has happened to a&nbsp;737 MAX&nbsp;bearing the US-based test registration N56807. At first glance, it appears to be a standard-liveried&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.spicejet.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">SpiceJet&nbsp;<\/a>MAX 8, of which the Indian budget operator already flies 13 (and has a further 130 on order), according to&nbsp;ch-aviation.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>However, upon closer inspection, we can see that its wingtips bear the colors of Dallas-based US low-cost giant&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.southwest.com\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Southwest Airlines.<\/a> It can be easy to miss this, given that they are mostly painted in red and yellow, which are similar colors to those used by SpiceJet in their livery. However, the blue bottom gives it away.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The first one on the list, N1801U flew back to BFI today after repaint at VCV into <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SouthwestAir?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SouthwestAir<\/a> livery. SpiceJet rudder remained. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/i7AzoZv61d\">https:\/\/t.co\/i7AzoZv61d<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fGLHZCReI0\">pic.twitter.com\/fGLHZCReI0<\/a><\/p>&mdash; BFI Watch (@bfi_watch_ca350) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bfi_watch_ca350\/status\/1501372560461553667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 9, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption><strong>Aviationa2z.com<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>So what could be the reason for this curious hybrid paint scheme?<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>SpiceJet has previously planned to fly to the US, so perhaps some kind of partnership could be in demand? Maybe we&#8217;ll see more Southwest MAX aircraft with SpiceJet features, like in the tweet above? As interesting as these theories would be, the reality is rather different, and merely an administrative matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"not-taken-up\">Ultimately, the reason for this temporary hybrid &#8216;Spice-West&#8217; livery simple boils down to the fact that Southwest is acquiring a series of MAX aircraft not carried up by SpiceJet. According to&nbsp;Planespotters.net, the aircraft in the photo at the top of the article would have been registered as VT-MXM and named&nbsp;White Pepper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, as said by Life From A Lounge, SpiceJet has since picked up significant excess capacity since ordering some of its MAX jets, which Boeing couldn&#8217;t deliver straight away due to the type&#8217;s grounding. The ability reached about in the aftermath of Jet Airways&#8217; shutdown, with SpiceJet picking up additional second-hand 737NG models as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-southwest-airlines\">Southwest Airlines <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This has ultimately prompted the Indian carrier to opt not to take up some of its\u00a0MAX 8\u00a0demands, with 11 of these going to Southwest Airlines. VT-MXM will become N1802U and is the second of the 11 (registered N1801U through to N1811U) when listed numerically. This will also see its seating configuration changed from a 189-seat setup to a less dense 175-seat layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Also, read   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/30\/boeing-develops-10-year-roadmap-for-aai-to-modernise-air-traffic-management\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Boeing develops 10-year roadmap for AAI to modernise air traffic management  <\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/30\/cathay-pacific-airways-plans-the-worlds-longest-commercial-flight-avoiding-russia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Cathay Pacific airways plans the world\u2019s longest commercial flight, avoiding Russia <\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/01\/air-india-ai-express-and-alliance-air-lost-rs-17032-crore-from-april-2020-to-december-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Air India, AI Express, and Alliance Air lost Rs 17,032 crore from April 2020 to December 2021<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Regardless of the 11 aircraft not taken up, a spokesperson for the Indian budget carrier has approved to The Hindu Business Line that &#8220;a significant number of aircraft will be added to SpiceJet&#8217;s fleet this year.&#8221; The 130 outstanding orders that it has for the type will represent a huge expansion, given that the figure is larger than its current fleet. Indeed, this now consists of just 87 aircraft.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/southwest-airlines-jet-takeoff-flickr-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16663\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/southwest-airlines-jet-takeoff-flickr-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/southwest-airlines-jet-takeoff-flickr-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/southwest-airlines-jet-takeoff-flickr-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/southwest-airlines-jet-takeoff-flickr-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/southwest-airlines-jet-takeoff-flickr-750x422.jpg 750w, https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/southwest-airlines-jet-takeoff-flickr-1140x641.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/southwest-airlines-jet-takeoff-flickr.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><strong> Southwest Airlines |Aviationa2z.com<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As for Southwest, while the 69 active and 142 ordered&nbsp;Boeing&nbsp;737 MAX 8s represent a significant sub-fleet, this variant won&#8217;t even be it&#8217;s most numerous. Indeed, it also has a whopping 264 smaller MAX 7s on order, although it is yet to take delivery of any of these. Both these and its MAX 8s are already 3.1 years old on average.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Thank you<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Stay updated with Aviationa2z.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpiceJet and Southwest Airlines are both key low-cost players in India and the US, their respective homelands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[152,249,115,332,458,446,582],"class_list":{"0":"post-19449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-aviation-blogs","8":"tag-airlines","9":"tag-boeing-737-max","10":"tag-india","11":"tag-southwest","12":"tag-southwest-airlines","13":"tag-spicejet","14":"tag-spicejet-airlines"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19449"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19452,"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19449\/revisions\/19452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}