Fuel Hedging in the Airline Industry

Southwest Airlines Co., established in 1971 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher, began its operations with only three Boeing 737 aircrafts. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas(Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). Southwest is well known as one of the largest low-cost carriers. With this strategy, the company has dramatically grown up and deeply rooted in the US airline industry. Now, Southwest Airlines Co. operates 633 aircrafts to 93 domestic cities and the highest number of passengers used Southwest Airlines to fly around U.S in Jan 2014 (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). To accomplish more than 40th consecutive years of both profitability and competitiveness, Southwest Airlines Company is constantly trying to find the routes to differentiate itself from other domestic carriers (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012).

The airline industry is a hyper-competitive marketplace as many airlines have gone out of business

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Southwest airlines began in 1971 using a strategy unlike any other airline at the time. Starting out in Texas, with only three planes, they flew between the Texas cities of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio (Coulter, pg 250). Their primary goal was to get their passengers to their destinations, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and to provide a fun atmosphere for their customers. They focused on providing short-haul routes with fares that were competitive with driving. Today, Southwest serves 101 destinations across the United States, as well as eight additional countries, and operates more than 3,900 flights a day. (Southwest , 2017) They have achieved a record 44 consecutive years of annual profitability, while staying true to their goal of providing the highest level of customer service at the lowest fare. In 2016 they ranked number 1 in customer satisfaction according to statistics listed by the Department of Transportation, with and average passenger airfare of $149.09 one way trip. (Southwest , 2017)

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After attending Minnesota State University in Moorhead and North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND as an international student, Amber pursued a Consulting career, first at Anderson Consulting and later at IBM with a focus on the Retail industry. Pursuing the desire to build a business and innovate, Amber invested

The purpose of this memo is to inform you of Dr. Narda Quigley’s Management Career Paths presentation that occurred on October 16th. Dr. Narda, the chair of the department, gave a brief overview of what the core requirements are to receive a management major at Villanova. Next, she went into detail about the department’s Management Consulting Concentration and the Management & Entrepreneurship program. She closed with some examples of Villanova alumni who are working in the business world with a Management major.

I attended the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s College of Business Administration. During my time as

I am now looking for an opportunity to further my personal development and career progression by enrolling with a reputable university on a business management degree course. I want to learn more about the

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The goal is to establish a sales and service office for Cornell University's EMBA program that will serve as the face of Cornell University's Johnson School of Business in Russia. We intend establish Cornell as a top-tier business school brand in Russia and achieve international recognition.

Hedging can be defined as a risk management mechanism or strategy which is used to prevent the chances of incurring losses which arise as a result of fall in prices commodities or currencies. It is a technique which is majorly used by the investors in protecting their capital against the effects of the economic situations such as inflation whereby the investors invests in the high yield financial instruments or take a position to cushion them against such effects (Investopedia, 2012).

Southwest Airlines Company (Southwest Airlines or ‘the Company’ SWA) is a passenger airline that provides scheduled passenger and freight transportation services. The Company primarily provides scheduled services throughout the US and near-international markets. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and employs 48,000 people and serves over one hundred million customers annually (“Southwest,” 2015). Southwest Airlines has accumulated over forty years of revenue and is one of the supremely flown airlines in the United States of America (Dess, et al, 2014, p. C137). Recognized for dominating the national or domestic airline market, Southwest Airlines’ diligence has built an