How Southwest Airlines benefits from the MAX 8

Southwest Airlines has been described as “out of gauge

” as the 800NG and MAX 8 now account for more than half the airline’s flights.  Normal for the airline would be ~65% flights operated by the 700NG, and in future, the MAX 7.

An analysis of the airline’s operations suggests it might be doing just fine, even though it would benefit from having MAX 7s.

Using DoT data filed by the airline, we see the following.