Captain Ed Evans started his day before dawn and prepared. Southwest Flight 8921 for a journey of approximately 19 hours. The year-old Boeing 737 MAX8 traveled nearly 4,000 miles from Baltimore to Denver, Long Beach, Reno, Las Vegas, Sacramento and back to Las Vegas.
“Airplanes start at 118 airports where we operate every day, and they can be somewhere completely different,” Evans said.
For an airline, the holiday season requires precision and efficiency.
“We’re ready to go,” Evans said. “I think we’re in great shape and looking forward to the holiday travel season.”
Thanksgiving weekend is crunch time for airlines, and Southwest Airlines is expecting record passenger numbers this year, with 4.7 million people flying to or from their holiday destinations.
At each stop, the team works quickly to prepare the aircraft for its next departure. Ryan Robles, a flight attendant, called it a race against the clock.
“We have a 45-minute turnaround, so being quick is critical,” Robles said.
Behind the scenes at Southwest Airlines
Meanwhile, ground crews are busy loading cargo and restocking the aircraft. The focus is to load all the bags so that the plane can return to the runway.
The crew changed several times on this trip. The flight attendants changed twice, and the pilots at Reno changed. In Denver, husband-and-wife team Andrew Witmer and Jordan Bumgarner worked to quickly restore snacks and beverages.
“I’m very competitive,” Jordan said. “We try to race each other,” added Andrew.
During the six flights, the plane carried 698 passengers and 578 checked bags. Among the passengers was Katie Jones, who was taking her 3-year-old son Clark to Disneyland for his birthday.
“What do you want to see? Mickey? The Toy Story ride?” Jones asked his excited son.
According to Southwest CEO Bob Jordan, running an airline is no small task.
“Everything wants to be in motion all the time. The moment you stop or slow down, things are out of place,” Jordan explained.
inside Southwest Network Operations Center in Dallas, overseen by Sarah Hugel. Cross country See travel, turbulence, bad weather, or airport backups that can cause delays.
“We can see a lot of what they’re going to face and expect things to happen,” he said.
As night fell, ship 8921 completed its final stop of the day, remaining on the full itinerary. His rest will be short – just seven hours – with time to check any maintenance and restock before a new day of travel.
For travelers, vacations are a chance to connect with loved ones. For an airline, it’s a delicate dance of coordination and teamwork to keep everything moving.