I would like to share a little bit of how our aircraft are scheduled for maintenance. We have over 500 aircraft in our system, and they all have to be maintained at some point during the day. Most of our aircraft fly around ten flights a day depending on the routes. For example, one day, I might see Lone Star One pass by the hangar that I work in at Dallas Love Field three or four times a day. [asset|aid=142|format=post_large_image|formatter=imagecache|title=hangar pic 1_0.jpg|align=none|height=100|width=100]
Our inhouse computer system tells us how much time is left on an aircraft before we have to bring it in for maintenance; it all depends on the type of check that’s scheduled. During normal operating hours, our Mechanics around the system will perform limited routine maintenance before and after each flight, but the majority of our maintenance is done overnight while most of you are sleeping. However, the department that I work in, "Heavy Maintenance", is a 24-hour operation.
These aircraft are scheduled for Heavy Maintenance every two years and are in the hangar between 12 and 50 days depending on the type of check. We also have scheduled maintenance done by outside contract maintenance bases. [asset|aid=143|format=post_large_image|formatter=imagecache|title=hangar pic 2_0.jpg|align=none|height=100|width=100]
We don’t have one place in particular that we send our aircraft for scheduled maintenance, but we have Southwest Maintenance from coast to coast in cities like; Baltimore/Washington, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, Orlando, Philadelphia, and Tampa Bay in the Eastern Region and Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Phoenix, Sacramento, St. Louis, and Salt Lake City in the Western Region. With that type of maintenance coverage you should feel safe to move about the country.
