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Introducing Florida One!

lreynolds
Frequent Flyer A

IT'S HERE! We kept it under wraps as long as we could, but today I'm so excited to announce the unveiling of Florida One--a Boeing 737 emblazoned with an artist’s rendering of the state flag.  Florida One has been secreted away in a private hangar somewhere in the state of Louisiana this week, so I can speak for a lot of people when I say we are so ready to finally show it off!  Southwest kicked off the event with a press conference in a Tampa International Airport hangar with our CEO Gary Kelly, National Wildlife Refuge Association’s President Evan Herche, and Southwest’s Florida-based Employees. 


To see video of our beautiful Florida One, please visit: http://blogsouthwest.com/video/introducing-florida-one


Florida One represents our ties to the Sunshine State since beginning service in January of 1996.  We opened two cities on the same day back then:  Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood and Tampa Bay.  We've grown from 17 daily nonstop departures to 284 daily nonstop departures, and now carry 20 percent of all air traffic to the state of Florida.  And last (but certainly not least) we begin service to our seventh Florida city, Panama City Beach, on May 23, 2010.

Check out our undercover plane as it's being unwrapped:

More than 200 Southwest Airlines Employees and community leaders celebrated the unveiling this morning at Tampa Airport, and around 11am EST, the aircraft will begin a whistle-stop tour of our Florida cities. At each stop, we'll host a "welcome party" in the Southwest gate area to show off our newest Boeing beauty to Employees and Customers.

Our tour of Florida will touch down at:

Tampa

Jacksonville

West Palm Beach

Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood

Orlando

Ft. Myers


Florida One joins thirteen other 737s in Southwest’s fleet that carry a unique paint scheme: Arizona One, California One, Illinois One, Lone Star One (Texas), Nevada One, New Mexico One, Maryland One, three Shamu aircraft (SeaWorld), Silver One (celebrating Southwest’s 25th anniversary), Triple Crown One (recognizing Southwest’s top rankings for ontime performance, baggage handling, and Customer satisfaction), and Slam Dunk One (tribute to our NBA partnership).  Whoo! That's a lotta livery!


The newest aircraft in the Southwest Airlines fleet is truly a work of labor and art, requiring 32 people at the Boeing Company working three shifts over the course of eight days to paint.  Over 46 gallons of paint and 16 different colors make up Florida One.  (That sounds like a Trivial Pursuit question waiting to happen.)

I've gotta run for now, as I don't think Florida One will wait just for me. Be sure to follow @southwestair for updates throughout the day (hashtag #FL1) and I'll see you in Jacksonville!

 

81 Comments
Anonymous3104
Explorer C
Would have been nice to kick-off Florida fare sales with the unveiling.
Cindy2
Explorer C
Way Cool, I wanna ride!
Anonymous3927
Explorer C
Sweet!
Anonymous3927
Explorer C
Sweet!
Frank1
Explorer C
Do you have any plans on ever flying into Key West, and if not...why? Are their restricitions that you can't get by?
Anonymous3806
Explorer C
OMG Far Out!!!
Linda_Hoffman
Explorer C
This plane is AWESOME! cant wait to fly with you to Orlando for vacation in October!!!
Paula
Explorer C
love it!!!!!!!.........and love Southwest Airlines!!!!!!
Anonymous2600
Explorer C
Please consider service to Key West. It's so hard to get there and adding it to your destinations would be great for all of us that love that city!
Anonymous4146
Explorer C
We need one for the Lone Star State!!!
Anonymous2509
Explorer C
WOW Great
mperry
Explorer C
I Love the new Florida livery, maybe I can take it from JAN to MCO in a few months. Twitter: MSvideoguy
mperry
Explorer C
I Love the new Florida livery, maybe I can take it from JAN to MCO in a few months. Twitter: MSvideoguy
Coni_Andrews
Explorer C
I like this one also, I live by the Airport and I get to see the Whale and the other ones. Make one for Nevada or California
Lew_Moore
Explorer C
Love it!!! Now, I think it is about time for a Music City One...to show some SWA Luv for your Tennessee home base! Nashville loves Southwest...so...how about it?!? 🙂
Christopher_C
Explorer C
And Southwest IS going to bring this plan to Panama City Beach to celebrate it's Southwest Airlines debut, right....
Chino
Explorer C
I agree with all 3 "Anonymous" would have been "Sweet" to "Ride" to Florida with a Florida Fares sale! But still great job!
Anonymous94
Explorer C
the public would love it if you would add melbourne, florida to the list. this fantastic, small airport is seriously underused and would reduce the traffic to orlando international. please consider this request 🙂
jamescameron1
Explorer C
I was right!!! Congrats guys... shes beautiful! What did I win??! lol
Anonymous3774
Explorer C
Here's a thought....quit spending money on nonsense, and put that money back into the company and pass it along to your loyal customers.
Wendy3
Explorer C
My 4-year old screams "Southwest" everytime she sees a Southwest plane in the air, at the airport, or on t.v. We love Southwest because it takes us to see Nana! Hopefully we'll get to ride on one of the "ONE's" someday soon. Our preference...Illinois One!
Anonymous1840
Explorer C
Nice!! When will we be flying it to San Juan, PR....??
Anonymous2113
Explorer C
Great love it now bring back direct flights from Washington Dulles to Orlando Please!
Allison11
Explorer C
I wish I could be in Jax right now...but living in utah..pretty cool paint job:)
tnnana7
Explorer C
I'll be flying to Jacksonville this afternoon! How do I book a flight on the new 747 and when? Thanks
Rich_L
Explorer C
It's stuff like this that keeps me coming back! I love the article's writing style too!
Anonymous2876
Explorer C
Which cities will Florida One fly between?
Bart
Explorer C
I wish Southwest would think Earth Day, apply a minimal amount of paint to their planes and increase their fuel efficiency. I have heard the weight of the paint is actually quite heavy. I would think without all that weight the plans would be that more fuel efficient multiplied by the miles flown the savings would be incredible.
Anonymous2244
Explorer C
Have to say it sure looks alot better than Maryland One......
p02todd
Explorer C
what time is it getting to Jacksonville?
Michael_Bludwor
Explorer C
Hooray! Another amazing paint scheme! Please bring it to Texas for us to see!
blusk
Aviator C
p02todd it is planned into Jacksonville at around 11:40 am ET
seanyoda
Explorer B
Given Southwest's presence in the Sunshine State, this livery has been a long time coming. I'm glad to see it. For those asking for a special livery for Texas, Nevada, and California, those already exist, the blog post lists all of the special livery aircraft currently in Southwest's fleet. Florida One joins thirteen other 737s in Southwest’s fleet that carry a unique paint scheme: Arizona One, California One, Illinois One, Lone Star One (Texas), Nevada One, New Mexico One, Maryland One, three Shamu aircraft (SeaWorld), Silver One (celebrating Southwest’s 25th anniversary), Triple Crown One (recognizing Southwest’s top rankings for ontime performance, baggage handling, and Customer satisfaction), and Slam Dunk One (tribute to our NBA partnership).
dgumbs
Explorer C
I love it!!!! Wish you would start flying out of Sarasota, would be way more convenient.
Jill2
Explorer C
I would love to take this plan into tampa tomorrow from hartford!
blusk
Aviator C
Bart, thanks for your comments, and on the surface (no pun intended) you would seem to be right. However, you can't just leave an airplane in baremetal and forget it. There is a lot of expensive upkeep and it requires chemicals to continually treat the bare metal. In addition, a lot of the external surfaces on an airplane aren't metal at all but high-strength composite materials. So its a tradeoff a bare metal airplane might cost less to operate in the air, but those costs are counterbalanced by higher maintenance costs. And while a painted airplane does use paint, it doesn't require chemicals. Honestly, either side can be argued, but for the present, we've found that paint is still the best way to go.
Anonymous4132
Explorer C
1. THere already is a Lone Star, California, and Nevada Plane. 2. why does Southwest need to put on a fare sale ? 3. The plane has to have paint, it sure the cost was minimal. stop griping, Southwest is a great Airline, who does not "waste" money like some of the others. I am tired of reading posts on here from people who only think about themselves and how it benefits them. This is what is wrong with society, "All about me" society! Why don't you negative posters try to post something positive, give it a try!
Doug8
Explorer C
Ha! For a minute when I first started reading the blog, I thought that Gov. Charlie Crist had gone crazy with the Republican Committee Amex card and chartered his own jet to run for/from the US Senate. Now I know better. Still laughing! Looks great!
rcdave
Explorer C
Please fly this a/c into Panama City for our new Airport's grand opening!!!! What a way to kick-off a celebration!
Anonymous1410
Explorer C
Will these new planes decrease the amount of stops? Any chance of direct flights from West to East Coasts???
lonewinger
Explorer C
Wow! Are you sure you didn't create this plane for our granddaughter, Shannon, a Florida-born, Southwest employee? In researching Florida markets it would be nice if you settled on Melbourne.
Firewind2
Explorer C
Classy.
Raisaeire
Explorer C
We all love flying Southwest. Any plans to enter the Memphis market? You sure would sell our family a lot more tickets as they are almost directly in the center between Nashville and Little Rock. It's great to see expansion in these rough times. Go SW!
Anonymous2498
Explorer C
It would be even better if they only allowed Florida Natives to ride on it. No Yankees or transplants allowed!
Angie4
Explorer C
Can you PLEASE start flying in and out Savannah, Georgia or Charleston, South Carolina???? My business associates and I tried using Southwest, which we love, but it's a 6 hour drive to Raleigh/Durham. There is a huge number of people in the Charleston area that fly in many of the Southwest areas, especially the west coast. It would be a tremendous help and greatly appreciated!
Anonymous105
Explorer C
Lindsey....In this context, hangar is spelled with an "a", not an "e"
Imogene
Explorer C
Ooo! Can we get a Philly cheesesteak plane?
Kevin_M
Explorer C
While I think it's great that Florida joins the list of "specialty" paint job planes in the fleet, I'm still miffed that Louisiana is still not represented, despite being the first state outside Texas to get Southwest service, way way back in the day. I wrote suggesting a Louisiana motif plane as a way to celebrate the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase (1803-2003) many years ago, at a time when the state might have been willing to kick in on the cost as a promotion for the event. No response. I asked again after Hurricane Katrina as a way for Southwest to show it was still committed to the New Orleans market; the deafening silence despite multiple avenues of communication (through my SWABIZ manager and directly to the executive offices) worried me that in fact, Southwest might end up pulling out of the Louisiana market entirely. They haven't, which is a relief, but it still rankles. We celebrate the bicentennial of our statehood in 2012 - how about it, Southwest? Isn't it time to honor the state that helped you break out of the intra-Texas market?
Imogene
Explorer C
Ooo! Can Philly get a cheesesteak plane?
Anonymous874
Explorer C
Why did Southwest not keep the "In God We Trust" on the Florida flag!!!!!!