Differentiation Strategy Southwest Other Airlines • Focused on shorter routes within 1 hours of travel • Considered competitor as the car travel and not airlines • Customer experience is considered the best way to win loyalty by “Fun-LUVing” attitude for in-flight entertainment • Culture committee made to guide Southwest in creating the fun loving Aura • Cashless cabin (credit card only for onboard purchase ) • Minimum turnaround time (10 minutes), 1/5th of competitors • Point to point service with no first class, no assigned seats no interlining of bags or passengers and no code sharing • Flights from Airports not served by other airlines , less congested and more easily accessible to business travelers • Prices set according to private …show more content…
sharing capabilities Options feasibility Changing Boarding Process • Changing legacy system based on first come first serve basis with no assigned seats, low load factor • Change to reserve seats in advance • More concerns on who sit next to customers • Slowed the boarding process • Decision on maintaining the open seating • Allowed customers to reserve seats in waiting line to get preferred boarding treatment • Priority boarding product called “business select” for a slight premium fare New fares, Products & Services • Early bird fares to those booking early and altered the Rapid Reward program to make it quicker to earn free flights • Onboard internet and cashless cabin for onboard purchases • No fee for changing tickets and “bags fly free” policy allowing customers to check up to 2 bags at no cost to continue Southwest’s low fare, high service image Acquiring slots and gates at LaGuardia • Used for low cost carrier for domestic , international and transcontinental flights • $7.5 million to get the slots and it could generate this revenue from 8 flights operating daily • But this would be a departure from initial strategy of operating out of non congested airport • Also this could cause delay in flights as 50% of the delays happens at congested airports in US • Landing costs at LaGuardia would be significantly higher than those Southwest incurred at other airports • Shuttling planes between 1-2 cities served by LaGuardia to ensure that the problem does not flow in
of $294 million. Assume that the jets fly, on average, three legs per day at 60% capacity (the aircraft seats
On the basis of similar operations in other parts of the country, management anticipates that each trip will be sold out and that 120,000 passengers will be carried each season. Ignore income taxes.
BlueSky flies three airplanes between Houston and three cities, Chicago, Miami, and Phoenix. These three cities are the spokes connected by the Houston hub. A few times each day the three airplanes fly from the spoke cities to Houston. They arrive
Body: Air travel is a fast and convenient way to reach a destination. Even if many passengers may complain of missed flights, delays during the holidays, and the number of carry-ons they are allowed to bring onto the plane, air travel is an important part of quick transportation. One essential part of the airport system is security. Today, security is a major priority that airports must administer strictly. Due to the recent terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, airports along with airlines want their customers to feel safe. An interest in airport security took me to the Tallahassee Regional Airport. Except for the
Airports are the heart of travel for many to conveniently travel from one location to another, whether the distance was 50 miles or internationally. With the advancements in technology, it has provided the ability for individuals to have access to parts of the world that once only been available to a select few. With such technological advances, our society will not be able to rewind back to
There was one day in American history that changed the way we look at life and travel now. A day that killed innocent people by the force of two planes striking the twin towers. That day was September 11, 2001. This monumental day when the first plane hit one of the towers, people were confused and didn’t understand what was happening. The energy moved from confused to scared in seconds and then everyone started to move toward the stairs. The farther they went down the endless stairwell the more people flowed in. Then the second plane hit. Everyone then knew that this was not an accident. America and around the world have changed forever. After 9/11 happened all airports have been very intense on security and making sure that no harm can come from people traveling but this has affected the way people have traveled.
However, the system did not work and was one of the reasons for the delay. The Airport’s
To avoid congestion and operating conflicts between large commercial aircraft and small GA aircraft, the FAA has designated some airports near major airports as reliever airports. Several of these high-capacity GA airports may serve a major metropolitan area providing access to the surrounding areas without experiencing delays at busier commercial airports. The NPIAS defines Reliever Airports as having at least 100 aircraft based at the airport or have 25,000 annual itinerant operations (Young,
There are disadvantages to obtaining these slots though. LaGuardia is one of the busiest, most congested airports in the United States. This could cause Southwest to delay flights due to an extended turn over time. A standing policy of Southwest Airlines is that it is always on time, this could adversely affect this policy. Another issue that could arise is LaGuardia is notorious for poor customer service, this goes against the “customer first” policy. In addition, New York City is a place of high wages and high costs of doing business. With the current recession, this could be
a plausible solution either, because given the severity of the economic situation a fare cut could
Another emerging trend in the past five years has involved the progress made on open skies agreements between the United States and other countries. Open skies agreements serve to liberalize Orlando International Airport transport markets between the two signing countries or parties in the agreement. These agreements remove government restrictions, such as limits to the number of flights any one airline is allowed to operate per week between countries. The removal of these limitations has opened some routes up to increased competition, by allowing Orlando International Airport to fly more frequently and making these routes more accessible. Orlando International Airport could not previously justify the capital expense of operating on routes with limited flights are now able to profit on routes with high demand.
Its operational capacity was severely limited by runway layout; Stapleton had two parallel north-south runways and two additional parallel east-west runways that accommodated only commuter air carriers. Denver’s economy grew and expanded greatly in the early 1980s, consequent to booms in the oil, real estate, and tourism industries. An aging and saturated Stapleton Airport was increasingly seen as a liability that limited the attractiveness of the region to the many businesses that were flocking to it. Delays had become chronic. Neither the north-south nor east-west parallel runways had sufficient lateral separation to accommodate simultaneous parallel arrival streams during poor weather conditions when instrument flight rules were in effect. This lack of runway separation and the layout of Stapleton’s taxiways tended to cause delays during high-traffic periods, even when weather conditions were good. Denver’s geographic location and the growing size of its population and commerce made it an attractive location for airline hubbing operations. At one point, Stapleton had housed four airline hubs, more than any other airport in the United States. In poor weather and during periods of hightraffic volume, however, its limitations disrupted connection schedules that were important to maintaining these operations. A local storm could easily congest air traffic across the entire United States.3
This effects the world because it delays flights for thousands of people who need to be at certain places at certain times.
their schedules to accommodate issues that arise and help to keep the flights on schedule and
This, along with the fleet maintenance costs and gate acquisition costs are unavoidable costs. The main challenge for Southwest is to optimize its operations such as to make maximum utilization of resources and thus cut back on the operating costs. The practice of paying salaries higher than the industry average is also a concern because the employees now expect such benefits from the airlines.