SOUTHWEST Airlines ! WN ! SWA !

A trio of discount airlines led by Southwest on Tuesday rolled out some of the lowest fares seen in years.
Southwest is offering one-way fares of $30 on routes up to 400 miles, $60 on flights up to 750 miles and $90 on longer routes. The prices, which don't include taxes and fees, are good for travel between Sept. 9 and Nov. 18.
Discounters AirTran and Frontier announced fares almost as low, and the rest of the USA's big airlines quickly matched the new fares.

The sales are short-term offerings. Southwest's fares must be bought by 11:59 p.m. PT tonight, while the sales window for AirTran prices for travel on off-peak days through Nov. 11 remains open through Thursday. The Frontier sale expires on July 14. Travel on those tickets covers a longer period: Aug. 10 through Jan. 15.
"This is the biggest, best fare sale of the year," said veteran airfare watcher Tom Parson, CEO of BestFares.com in Arlington, Texas. He called Southwest's fares "the kind of sale you write Mom about. Heck, it's the kind of sale you fly in Mom for a visit."

The low prices are a throwback to the mid-1990s, when fares that low were designed to entice passengers during a post-Gulf-War travel slump.
"We haven't seen $30 fares in at least 15 years," Parsons said. "I remember in the mid-'90s when people were excited about $99 coast-to-coast fares. These are $90, a decade later."

The sales come after most U.S. airlines pushed through their first fare increases of the year in June, then let most of their big summer sales expire on June 30. Fare watchers weren't expecting to see new sales announced until August, when airlines typically begin drumming up business for the slow fall travel season.
"This tells us that fall travel is real light," said Terry Trippler, another veteran airfare watcher at TerryTrippler.com in Minneapolis.

U.S. carriers have been reducing the number of available seats since last fall as fewer people travel amid the recession. Many plan to cut more by reducing flights or moving to smaller planes in the fall.
"(The economy) is not what it was expected to be as a result of the stimulus package," said industry analyst Nathan Smith at Frost & Sullivan. "Travel demand historically tracks with GDP. Instead of growing as predicted when the stimulus package was passed, GDP actually is down. And we really don't see a recovery this year."

(c) Copyright 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Federal air-safety regulators are investigating how unauthorized parts were installed on at least 42 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] jets, and why maintenance-control procedures didn't catch the problem, according to a Wall Street Journal [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].
"The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday said the suspect parts -- pieces of a system that is designed to protect movable panels on the rear of the wings from being damaged by hot engine exhaust -- don't pose an 'immediate safety issue,'" the story said. "But a dispute between the FAA and the airline kept planes temporarily grounded for part of Saturday, with some flights delayed for four hours or more."
A source told the Journal that Southwest and the FAA have since come up with a mutually acceptable plan to replace the parts within two weeks, although the schedule could be extended.
Southwest's [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] consists of 544 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] jets

Airlines Co ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) may keep flying some of its airplanes for now, even though they have unauthorized parts, regulators said on Wednesday.
Southwest grounded 46 older Boeing ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) 737s on Saturday "out of an abundance of caution" after Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors discovered that a component crucial for keeping engine exhaust off wing flaps had not been approved by the agency, the FAA and the company said.
The FAA said the part was installed by a contractor that handles some of the airline's maintenance. Regulators and airline officials did not identify the U.S.-based firm.
The problem was discovered during a routine FAA check of Southwest maintenance records, the FAA said.
FAA and Boeing officials determined that the parts installed on some 46 aircraft, about 9 percent of Southwest's 737 fleet, do not pose an immediate safety hazard and can remain in place for 10 days.
"All agreed that the parts met FAA standards and there was not a safety issue. The current discussion is focused on whether a longer-term solution is needed," said Chris Mainz, a Southwest spokesman.
The investigation continues, but the FAA said it does not believe the problem extends to other airlines. Southwest could be fined, the FAA said.
Southwest agreed in March to pay a $7.5 million fine to settle government allegations that it flew planes without performing required safety inspections. (Reporting by John Crawley and Deepa Seetharaman. Editing by Robert MacMillan)

Southwest Airlines and US FAA officials met yesterday to discuss an agency inspector's recent discovery that SWA is operating more than 40 737s with parts produced by an uncertified vendor, a finding that led to the Aug. 22 grounding of the aircraft from early morning to 3 p.m.
"FAA, Boeing and Southwest all agreed [by the afternoon of Aug. 22 that] our aircraft were safe to operate with the parts as they were," an SWA spokesperson told ATWOnline. The agency confirmed to this website that use of the parts does not create an immediate safety issue, but added that permission granted to the airline to continue operating the 737s is for 10 days only, giving SWA a brief reprieve to find a more permanent solution.
The parts in question are exhaust gate assembly hinge fittings, which deflect engine exhaust from wing flaps. A maintenance company that neither FAA nor SWA identified apparently replaced the parts with hinge fittings produced by a vendor that has not gained FAA certifis cation for the parts. The issue was first revealed by The Wall Street Journal late Tuesday.

SWA's latest confrontation with FAA comes fewer than six months after it agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine to settle an enforcement action stemming from operating 46 737 Classics for nine days in March 2007 after it had disclosed to the agency that the aircraft were in noncompliance with an airworthiness directive [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Disclosure of that episode led to allegations that FAA inspectors in Dallas were too "cozy" with SWA.

by Christine Boynton and Aaron Karp

Southwest Airlines and US FAA were working toward accommodation today on a plan and timetable to replace
unapproved exhaust gate assembly hinge fittings on some 49 of the airline's 737s.

When the agency became aware of the existence of the unapproved parts, it issued a letter giving SWA conditional approval to operate aircraft with the parts for 10 days, a deadline that expires today at 5 p.m. local time [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

An FAA spokesperson told ATWOnline yesterday that SWA has come up with a proposal to address the situation. The
agency is trying to "find a way to accommodate Southwest and do so in a manner compliant with [FAA] regulations," he said. He added that FAA does not view the unapproved parts as "an immediate safety problem."

As of yesterday, Southwest had replaced the parts on 33 aircraft, an airline spokesperson told ATWOnline.
However, the spokesperson added that the timeframe for repairing the remainder could be more challenging. "Availability of resources would be a consideration," he said.

The parts were installed by D-Velco Aviation Services, the SWA spokesperson confirmed.
They were manufactured by an FAA-approved subcontractor named Future Fab that "lacked approval to perform this particular function," he said.

Southwest Airlines must replace unapproved parts in its jets by Dec. 24, but can continue to fly with the parts in the meantime, under a plan the Federal Aviation Administration [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Tuesday.
The FAA determined Aug. 21 82 of Southwest's Boeing 737s had unapproved parts associated with the hinge fittings for the exhaust gate assembly, which helps protect the aircraft flaps from engine heat. Southwest [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] it has replaced the part on 43 planes so far.
The FAA said it and Boeing have determined the unapproved parts would not prevent safe operation of the airplanes.
"We want to assure our customers that this situation is not about having unsafe parts on our airplanes," Mike Van de Ven, Southwest's executive vice President and chief operating officer, said in a news release. "Our approved vendor subcontracted a machining function without appropriate written approval from FAA. As a result, the parts are considered unapproved and must be removed regardless of their quality. The parts have been inspected, and the FAA agrees that they meet the requirements of the aircraft manufacturer, Boeing. We concur that this plan is the best and most reasonable manner in which to fulfill the FAA's mandate."
In addition to requiring Southwest replace the parts by Dec. 24, the FAA said the airline must physically inspect each plane for wear and tear every seven days, report on its inspection results each day and find and dispose of any other unapproved parts made by the same vendor

Southwest Airlines plans to open international routes to Europe and South America, although so far there is "no timetable" for the move, Director-Network Strategic Planning Lee Lipton told ATWOnline at the World Route Development Forum in Beijing.
"Europe and South America are our first choice. . .but currently we are still evaluating our options," Lipton said. Southwest Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly said last month that the LCC is "seriously considering" operating international flights to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean as soon as 2011 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].
Lipton told this website he is confident that the "low-cost, long-haul" business model can work for the carrier "just as AirAsia X and Jetstar have achieved success," adding, "it could even become a trend for LCCs in the coming days."
Interestingly, Spring Airlines, the most successful Chinese LCC, also plans to launch international service. It intends to operate to neighboring Asian countries in time for Shanghai's Expo 2010 starting in May.
However, Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines DG Andrew Herdman expressed reservations about the low-cost long-haul model, saying, "It's too early to tell if it will be a trend for the future."
He contrasted the normal low-cost business model--narrowbody aircraft, single-class cabins and online ticket sales--with a typical long-haul operation. "Once the LCCs enter the international market, they have to comply with international rules, which means they have to operate a two-class cabin on widebody aircraft and sell their tickets not only through their website but also by GDS," he told ATWOnline. "All these would make low-cost carriers look like full-service airlines, as they have a lot of convergence with carriers that choose the standard model." Herdman concluded: "I wouldn't say it can't work, but it's quite challenging."

Southwest Airlines yesterday moved to clarify its international future, stressing that it "does not have any plans to fly distant, long-haul international flights at this time or in the near future."
At this week's World Route Development Forum in Beijing, Director-Network Strategic Planning Lee Lipton told ATWOnline that the long-haul, low-cost model employed by airlines such as AirAsia X "could become a trend" among LCCs in the future and that Southwest was "evaluating our options" in that regard [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].
Yesterday the airline confirmed that any such venture likely is a long way off. "Our immediate focus is on developing our previously announced codeshare partnerships with WestJet and Volaris, and we have expressed interest in exploring near international markets, including Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, with our own fleet," a spokesperson told this website. "While we can't rule out the possibility in the future, we are not actively considering service to distant international markets with our own aircraft."
Three months ago, SWA said its partnership with WestJet will be delayed until late 2010 as it focuses on "near-term revenue opportunities