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Southwest Adds A 'Green Plane' To Their Fleet As An Eco Test Lab

October 22, 2009 at 8:46 AM | by | Comments (0)

During yesterday's big news day down at Southwest Airlines' headquarters in Dallas, much more was revealed beyond the ten new routes for 2010, including the reveal of Southwest's new "Green Plane."

Aside from the snazzy new recycling logo added to the usual Southwest heart on the plane, the 737-700 is outfitted with a range of eco-products being tested out by Southwest, since the Green Plane serves as more than just a machine flying passengers place to place, but also as a test lab. It will still be flying it's regular route as flight WN222 between Chicago-Midway and Boston-Logan, so Midwest and Beantown travelers should keep an eye out, although it'll still rotate throughout the system.

Installed in the Green Plane right now, and therefore being evaluated for future use on other Southwest planes, is eco-material like the following: InterfaceFLOR Carpet, totally carbon-neutral and 100% recyclable and e-Leather and IZIT Leather on the seats, both manmade leather alternatives that are lighter weight and made of recycled materials. In addition, they've re-designed the life vest pouch to be smaller and more lightweight and made the wind screen and rub strips lighter and more durable as well.

With just these improvements, Southwest plans on saving five pounds of weight per seat—impressive. Hopefully this means that Southwest will be able to continue holding off on those random extra fees being levied by the legacy carriers.

Related Stories:
· What's A Green Plane, You Ask? [Nuts About Southwest]
· Southwest Green Plane Q&A [Southwest]
· Southwest Announces 10 Hot New Routes For 2010 [Jaunted]
· Green Travel coverage [Jaunted]

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