Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field) grounded thirty-four B737-700s on November 21, 2018, upon discovering shortcomings in the maintenance logs, the Chicago Business Journal has reported.
The grounding was voluntary and precautionary in nature and had only a "minimal" impact on the carrier's operations during the busy Thanksgiving period.
The discovered shortcomings related to a fuselage part which was previously repaired on some of the B737-700s Southwest acquired second-hand. The airline said that all visual inspections were completed within two days and that no damages were discovered during the checks.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Southwest operates 513 B737-700s. The type constitutes the bulk of the LCC's fleet, which in total includes 746 Boeing narrowbodies. Ninety-nine -700s were added from the second-hand market, not counting units which earlier flew for AirTran Airways (Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) which has been taken over by Southwest and closed down by 2014.
