Southwest Airlines Nearly Doubles Its Maintenance Hangar In Phoenix
- Southwest Airlines doubles maintenance hangar in Phoenix, expanding with $100 million project.
- Airlines committed to sustainability with eco-friendly expansion materials and carbon emission reduction goals.
- Phoenix mayor and Southwest COO express gratitude for community investment and growth.
On February 16, the largest MAX operator and the world’s largest low-cost carrier, Southwest Airlines, celebrated the winding up of a $100 million project spanning several years. The project saw an expansion of 90,000 square feet, doubling Southwest’s maintenance hangar at Phoenix Sky Harbor. This also allowed the airline to add three new aircraft bays to the facility.
Arizona and the Southwest connection
Southwest began its operations in the busiest three-runway airport in the world, Sky Harbor, in January 1982. Starting its operations with a rather humble figure of 13 daily flights, Southwest now sees 220 departures a day here. Last year, employees at Southwest volunteered more than 416 days worth their time to the causes of bettering the lives of people in Arizona.
The expansion of the maintenance hangar at Sky Harbor means that work can be done concurrently on five aircraft. The addition of maintenance shops will result in support for the airlines’ technical operations employees based at Sky Harbor. The doubling of its maintenance hangar in Phoenix also came with a more voluminous facility for employees handling ground support equipment maintenance as well as provisioning.
This paints Southwest Airlines in a good light after it had to pay $422,000 in fines last year. The penalties came after claims that the airlines retaliated against the mechanics who were using their earned sick time.
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Southwest Airlines Facing Over $400,000 In Arizona Labor Fines
The airline argued that its bargaining agreement with aircraft mechanics is subject to federal labor laws.
What the airline and Phoenix’s mayor had to say
On the completion of the project, The Chief Operating Officer at Southwest Airlines, Andrew Watterson, commented:
“The Safety-first work to support a continuous renewal of our fleet benefits our entire network and the community. Investing in our Arizona-based People by equipping them with the latest tools, enhanced processes, and functional spaces is one of the most impactful investments we can make at Southwest Airlines and our future in Phoenix.”
The mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego, was buoyant that the city benefited from the extension of Southwest’s operations:
“We are grateful to Southwest Airlines for believing in Phoenix and going above and beyond to plant roots in our community, whether it’s through expanded operations or countless volunteer hours with local organizations. Phoenix is proud to be a major service market for Southwest and we stand ready to continue welcoming millions more passengers to the Valley of the Sun!”
Paving a way forward for sustainability
Southwest Airlines is dedicated to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and plans to cut down the intensity of its carbon emissions in half by 2035. It also expects to replace 10% of its jet fuel with sustainable aviation fuel by 2030.
The airline’s dedication to sustainability goals also trickled into the expansion of its maintenance hangar. In total, 30% of the building materials were made up of recycled content. The products used in the construction came from manufacturers that had verified environmental performance. The extended hangar also comes with a high-reflectance roof to ward off the heat island effect. The surrounding paving materials were also chosen with this effect in mind.
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Southwest also has a pledge to cut down the energy utilization index at its headquarters by 50% by 2035. In addition to the dedication towards sustainability it showed during this project, the airline also has set its sights on carbon removal by Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology and cooperating with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to optimize air traffic routes to achieve lower emissions.
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