B737-200 operations in the USA 1990-99

B737-100/200 operations in the USA 1990-99

The B737-200 was one of the most successful narrow body short to medium range  aircraft. Maximum passenger accommodation was 130 passengers and she could flew up to 4800km according to Boeing (http://www.boeing.com/resources/boeingdotcom/company/about_bca/startup/pdf/historical/737-200-passenger.pdf)

The aircraft proved to be a tremendous commercial success with 1154 frames produced including the military version B737-T43A 

The table below shows us the declining trend of the  passengers carried by the 737-200 during the decade as new airliners such as the  A319,B737-300, B737-400 began to replace them. 

Table 2 shows passengers carried by airlines throughout the decade 

1990

20 busiest b737-200 routes

Alaska Airlines used the Combi version of the B737-200  as the traffic on some routes that could not justify the full passenger version of the planes. Spokane-Seattle (51738 pax) Anchorage-Nome (46113 pax) and Anchorage-Cordova (40740 pax) were the busiest routes.The fleet consisted of 7 B737-200.



By Gillfoto - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link


Aloha airlines used its B737 on its inter-Island services with HNL-OGG and HNL-LIH carrying more than 1.1 Million passengers . The fleet numbered 13 B737-200.





By Clint Groves - http://www.airlinefan.com/airline-photos/large/1696213/Aloha-Airlines/Boeing/737-200/N73713/, GFDL 1.2, Link



By Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland - 427am - Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-230; N823AL@ITO;03.10.2006, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link





By Ken Fielding/https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link



America West most popular routes were LAX-PHX (852058 pax),  LAS-LAX (393374 pax) and PHX-TUS (380027 pax).The fleet consisted of 70 B737 all versions

The only international flight operated by the company was LAS-YYC (59972 pax) with a 79.5% load factor.




By Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland - America West Airlines Boeing 737-275; N127AW, August 1983, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link




American airlines inherited its fleet of B737-200 after its merger with Air California, they were used on its inter and intra-California routes . LAX-SJC, ONT-SJC and SEA-SJC witnessing the highest number of passengers carried.The fleet numbered 3 B73-200.

By JetPix - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/American-Airlines/Boeing-737-293/0202986/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/6/8/9/0202986.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link

Continental airlines fleet of B737-200 was augmented by the additional frames of People Express. They were used from the company's 2 hubs Newark and Denver . From Newark the most popular routes were CLE-EWR, DTW-EWR and PIT-EWR  and from Denver: DEN-ABQ, DEN-OKC  and DEN-SLC.The fleet consisted of 94 B737 all versions

 


By JetPix - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/Continental-Airlines/Boeing-737-217/0203452/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/2/5/4/0203452.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link





DELTA AIRLINES, not an original B737 customer, additional 46 frames came with the merger of Western Airlines. The company was able to re-distribute the operations of the B737-200 among its network and its most popular routes were

LAX-SFO, PHX-SLC and OAK-SLC. DL used its B737-200 on some of its Mexican routes (MZT-PHX and MZT-PVR) and SFO-YVR , these being the busiest B737 international routes.The fleet numbered 61 B73-200.





By Guido Allieri - Italy - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/Delta-Air-Lines/Boeing-737-247-Adv/0474502/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/2/0/5/0474502.jpg, GFDL, Link

With 11.42 million  passengers, Southwest ranks first in number of passengers carried. DAL-HOU is the busiest routes with 769000 passengers followed by LAS-PHX,LAX-PHX,HOU-MSY,ABQ-PHX carrying more than 1000 passengers per day. Southwest had 46 B737-200 on its fleet




By AlainDurand - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/Southwest-Airlines/Boeing-737-2H4-Adv/0993084/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/4/8/0/0993084.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link






By JetPix - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/Southwest-Airlines/Boeing-737-2H4-Adv/0202989/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/9/8/9/0202989.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link






United Airlines used its B737-200 extensively throughout its hub : 1.9 M from Chicago-O'Hare, 1.6 M from Washington-Dulles,  1.48M from San Francisco and 1.45M from Denver. The fleet numbered 74 B73-200.

The B737-200 was used almost exclusively on a single international route SEA-YVR carrying 44454 passengers





By AlainDurand - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/United-Airlines/Boeing-737-222/1045540/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/0/4/5/1045540.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link




By Konstantin von Wedelstaedt - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/United-Airlines/Boeing-737-291-Adv/0067491/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/1/9/4/0067491.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link

US AIRWAYS, the 2nd largest B737-200 carrier by the number of enplaned passenger used its B737-200 (resulting from the merger of Piedmont Airlines) on its very dense East coast network: CLT-ORD, MIA-TPA, CLT-DAB, CLT-MIA and CLT-ROA were the popular routes. The fleet of the company was very active on its transborder services with Canada carrying 201949 passengers. The fleet consisted of 23 B737-200.





By JetPix - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/USAir/Boeing-737-2B7-Adv/0194073/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/3/7/0/0194073.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link




By JetPix - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/USAir/Boeing-737-201-Adv/0203525/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/5/2/5/0203525.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link

1991

Passengers carried by B737-200 fell by 3.6%. Traffic increased by 144% for Carnival airlines, 9.2% for Continental airlines and 8.9% for United Airlines. The biggest drops are witnessed for Midway airlines due to the cessation of operations, MARKAIR -23% and American airlines -22.8%

 



By JetPix - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/Midway-Airlines/Boeing-737-2T4-Adv/0195076/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/6/7/0/0195076.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link




A new entrant , CASINO EXPRESS operating charter flights out of Elko joins the family of B737-200 operators




By Richard Silagi - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link




the 20 busiest routes in 1991 show, compared to 1990, the following changes:


PHX-SLC, AUS-HOU and DTW-MDW are replaced by LAS-SAN, PHX-SFO and OAK-PHX.

The B737-200 constituted 5.48% and 5.04% of system wide Available-Seat Mile and Revenue Seat Mile and the share of the B737-200 among the individual companies and RPM varied greatly from company to company.: from a minuscule 0.3% for American Airlines where the B737-200 played a marginal role to 100% for Casino Express whose total fleet consisted of B737-200

 The B737-200 fared better on terms of load factors for WN, HP, AA, AS, AQ & BF  but were markedly lower for US, UA, DL and CO.

 1992

Passengers carried by B737-200 dropped by a further 4.6%. Traffic increased marginally by 5.7% for Southwest airlines and 2.9% for United Airlines. The biggest drops are witnessed for America West Airlines  -24.8%, Aloha  airlines -12.9% and Alaska airlines-9.7%.

American Airlines withdraws completely from B737-200 operations . Other companies join the club as Airmark International Inc, Jet Fleet International and Sierra Pacific Airlines which represented only 0.02% of passengers carried 

the 20 busiest routes in 1992 show compared to 1991, the following changes: MCI-MDW are replaced by OAK-PHX

The B737-200 constituted 4.9% and 4.5% of system wide Available-Seat Mile and Revenue Seat Mile and the share of the B737-200on the operations of the companies dropped significanly in terms of ASM, Markair's dropped from 81.6% to 38.7% , Southwest's from 39.3% to 33%, Aloha's from 81% to 77.8% as the airframe was withdrawn to be replaced by newer  and more efficient machines.

The B737-200 fared in general worse  in terms of load factors except for Southwest . See table below

    

1993

Passengers carried by B737-200 dropped by a further 4% in 1993.Almost all airlines lost traffic during the year,  double diggits drops are wirnessed in Alaska Airlines -22.3%, United airlines -17.6%, Continental Airlines -14.6% and Aloha Airlines -13.7%. Southwest remains with Casino Express and Markair the inly companies to have a positive increase in traffic.

No major changes in the top 20 busiest routes :DAL-SAT is the new entrant as LAS-SAN leaves the top 20 and ranks 23rd

As far as international routes are concerned, the B737-200 stopped serving
opped serving Mexico but is active on the Inter-Canadian routes with 71% of the share followed by The Bahamas with 24%.
OHL-YUL 92350 pax, SEA-YVR 63356 pax, PHL-YYZ 59291,SFO-YVR 59291 pax and PHL_YUL 51185 pax are the busiest international routes

Except for Southwest and Aloha Airlines, load factors on the B737-200 were lower than the overall load factor; it reached almost 10 points for Delta Airlines.

Market share dropped slightly in general, but more markedly for MArkair, Aloha Airlines and United Airlines . Other companies showed marginal increases or decreases.

1994

After years of steady decline, The traffic on the B737-200 rose by 13.3% in 1994.  The greatest increase in traffic  is recorded by  Markair  +58%, Continental Airlines +33%, followed by United airlines +20%.  Southwest recorded a mere 2% increase  whereas Carnival recorded   a decline of 23%.

New entrants are noticed  such as Air South which started operations in July 1994, Air Tran Airways ,  Frontier Airlines , Viscount Air service ( used its B737 to  operate sports charters, VIP charters, as well as some track charter)  and Vanguard airlines that  started  operations in December 1994 on  MCI-DEN-SLC  route

The busiest routes welcome  BWI-CLE ,CLE-MDW, DEN-SLC.  and BOS-BWI but LAS-LAX, PHX-TUS,LAS-SAN and OAK-PHX leave the top 20

MCI-MDW+19.3%,PHX-SFO +18.4% and PHX-SAN +17.4% are the routes with the highest increase in B737 traffic as opposed to LAX-SFO which sees a reduction of 49.4% followed by LAX-PHX with 30.5%

The B737 represented less than 5% of the total ASM and RSM system wide and  the load factor was lower than the LF system wide. The biggest spread among b737 and system  load factor  can be seen for Delta Airlines, Continental and United Airlines .

Worth noting is that the B737 constituted only the 26% of ASM and RSM of Southwest's operations

 

 

By Torsten Maiwald - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-South/Boeing-737-247/0221052/L, GFDL 1.2, Link


By Konstantin von Wedelstaedt - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/Frontier-Airlines/Boeing-737-228-Adv/0151676/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/6/7/6/0151676.jpg, GFDL 1.2, Link


By Ken Fielding/https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

By Jeroen Westram - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Vanguard-Airlines/Boeing-737-247/0012607/L/, GFDL 1.2, Link

 
1995

1995 witnesses the entry of 2 new companies Eastwind Airlines and Nations Air  

By Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland - 10ak - Eastwind Airlines Boeing 737-2H5; N221US@TPA;27.01.1998, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link


By Torsten Maiwald - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Nations-Air/Boeing-737-247/0198183/L/, GFDL 1.2, Link

Total traffic increased barely by a mere 0.8% in 1995 fuelled mainly by new entrants  such as  Vanguard Airlines, Air Tran,  Air south and Frontier Airlines   whereas "legacy" airlines witnessed  a  drop except for United Airlines , Aloha Airlines and Alaska Airlines. RPM (Revenues-Passenger Mile)  shows that it  increased for most companies except for  Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, US Airways , the same companies that witnessed the biggest drop in traffic

Load factors remained lower at 62.6%  versus  and 67.2% system wide. America West Airlines and Markair were  the  only  companies  with higher than system wide Load factors

1996

Traffic  remained almost flat for the year, Alaska Airlines , Air Tran ,Vanguard Airlines , Frontier Airlines increasing dramatically by  28.4%,124.5%, 24.5% and 33.2% respectively. MARKAIR and Nation Air Express go bankrupt.

If traffic remained on the same level  as 1995, RPM increased by 4.5%  well below the system wide increase of 7.4% and Load factors  reached  65.3% better than 1995 of 62.6% but markedly below  the overall load factor of  69.3%.

1997

The traffic carried by the B737-200 witnesses a small drop of 2.7% . The decrease  experienced by America West -6.8 % Southwest Airlines -9.2 % and United Airlines 12.2% could not offset the modest gains made by Alaska Airlines +13%, Continental Airlines 3.7% and Delta Airlines  +2.6%.
If Traffic fell. ASM and RPM  remained almost on the same level as 1996

The Hawaiian inter island services account for 10% and services to Florida more than 16% of the traffic carried

1998

1998 was not a good year, traffic fell by 12.2% as much as the combined decrease of then 1990-93 period . Continental airlines traffic fell by 49.&% followed by United Airlines 42.8%, America West by 18.6% and Southwest by 9.8% (6592582 passengers ) could not be offset by the small increases in traffic by Delta Airlines , Vanguard Airlines, US Airways, Frontier Airlines and Eastwind Airlines (1981877).

Departures performed fell by 13.4% to 637730 flights, freight fell by 9.3% and mail by 27.4%.

New entrant WinAir did not make a dent starting operations in November 1998  and providing public scheduled charter flights from a hub at Long Beach Municipal Airport.The airline applied to the FAA for authority to operate as a scheduled passenger airline, but this was not received by the time the airline shut down in July 1999


By David Mueller (Hawaiian717) - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, Link

1999

The downward trend continued in 1999 with a loss of almost 10% compared to the last period helped by Continental withdrawing all its B737-200 fleet, while United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and US Airways accused a loss of 3852270 passengers, a decrease of 13.5% over the last period

A new entrant Accessair tried to develop DSM as a hub center but its effort will be short lived more on Accesair at https://utopiaairport.blogspot.com/2015/07/access-air-1998-2001.html

Departures performed fell by 11.74% to 562815  flights