Richest airlines can't get enough hand-me-down jets

Chicago

IT'S a tale that could be dubbed "From Russia to Love". Two Boeing 737 jetliners swooped onto a factory airfield near Seattle in March, the last of the models once flown by a collapsed Russian carrier. They were headed for makeovers to erase the Cyrillic logos and any other trace of Transaero Airlines. Next stop: Dallas's Love Field, where hometown carrier Southwest Airlines is on a record shopping spree.

The imports are integral to what Jon Stephens, Southwest's director of fleet transactions, describes as a "beautiful plan" to swop out some of its oldest models without spending lavishly. The carrier's in the middle of acquiring 83 used Boeing 737-700s from around the world, the largest such haul in its more than four-decade history.