Essay on Southwest Airlines Case Analysis

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).

Bargaining Power of Customers (high)- Customers has several options when it comes to flying. But the main attraction to customers are low prices and Southwest makes it known that they have some of the lowest airfares. The only way Southwest can take back the power is by offering direct flights to cities that other airliners do not offer. Besides the small occurrence of having a direct flight to a city that no other airline has, Southwest

The target demographic for Southwest is very broad. The fact the airline has a brand that appeals to price-conscious travelers who do not mind the airline’s no-frills philosophy means it attracts lots of small business owners, young adults, middle-class families, and those who are traveling a short distance. Southwest operates a simplified airline to keep costs down. It only operates one type of aircraft, and its no-frills plan includes no assigned seats or class seating, no meals, and no onboard movies. The company has a strong emphasis on customer service and a differentiation strategy to keep customers happy and loyal. When hiring for customer service positions within the organization, Southwest focuses on attitudes rather than skills and encourages peer hiring. This strategy helps the company identify those who fit the organizational culture and who are most likely to further the company’s philosophy of

Southwest Airlines is a major US airline established in 1967 that services a multitude of cities in all 50 states and beyond. The company is known for its outstanding quality in providing services and it 's cost effective ticket prices to its many passengers throughout the nation. This airline is based in the southwestern United States, in the city of Dallas Texas, and due to the tremendous number of airplanes that it has and the timely service that it provides to its passengers, this airline services more US passengers than any other airline. This airline also has the largest fleet of planes of any economical or low-cost airline service in the world and employees more than 45,000.

Air Southwest was incorporated on “March 15, 1967” (1966 to 1971, 2016), at a time when “price competition from interstate competitors was ferocious” (Heskett & Sasser, 2013, p. 3). However, Rollin King one of Southwest original founders had an idea that would shake things up. While having a couple of drinks with his friend Herb Kelleher, he scribbled is point-to-point triangular service idea

In 1986, Southwest celebrated 15 years of low fares, good times and high spirits! Fun Fares were introduced with over 13 million passengers having flown Southwest. In 1987, Southwest celebrated the sixth year in a row as the recipient of the Best Consumer Satisfaction record of any continental U.S. carrier. The prices of Fun Fares were reduced by up to 25% and Weekend Fun Packs (which includes round trip airfare and hotel) were introduced. By doing it smarter, Southwest Airlines does it faster, cheaper and has more fun than any other airline! In 1988, Sea World of Texas and Southwest teamed up to promote the State of Texas as a major tourist attraction. Through the "New Friends" campaign, Sea World of Texas named Southwest as its official airline and

Southwest Airline was from an idea on a napkin between Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. Eventually, after a few regulation issues, the airline became official on focusing point-to-point travel between Dallas, Houston, San Antonio. One of the early key success factors which stated in the case, “ In contrast to larger airlines servicing the cities through connecting interstate routes, Southwest would fly directly to each of the cities, and the flights would take roughly one hour each.” Not only Southwest has the advantage of time but also the trust on safety from frequent flyers by having a direct flight to each city. Likewise, within two years (1971-1973) due to price segmentation based on the time of before and after 7 PM along with weekends, the company became profitable.

Southwest spearheaded “Shuttle By United” by emphasizing the particularly city-pairs where they competed directly. Additionally, Southwest heavily promoted their 21-day advance fares and other discounts. Southwest’s average fare for the intra-California market decreased from $45.00 in the third quarter of 1994 to $44.00 in the fourth quarter of 1994 and into early January 1995. The Oakland-Seattle route was $51.00, down from $60.00 in the third quarter of 1994. Southwest vice president of marketing and sales estimated the average passenger fare for “Shuttle By United” was roughly 5-10 percent higher in the nine markets it competed directly with Southwest and about $20.00 higher than the average Southwest fare in the markets it did not compete directly.

1. Instead of 16 different prices, American simplified its pricing structure to include only 4 kinds of fares: a first-class fare, a coach fare that can be bought anytime before flight time (full-fare), 21-day advance-purchase fare, and 7-day advance-purchase fare. The new fare structure was expected to reduce administrative labor costs related to managing different fares by $25 million annually. The change was also

Continental, Northwest and United Airlines intended to adopt part of the new fare system. Continental, because it is in Chapter

The company outperformed every other US Airline in the amount of domestic passengers flown. Southwest airline relished in a first quarter revenue and passenger load factor that exceeded any preceding record. Load factor can be determined through a simple equation using the revenue passenger miles, or “the number of passengers carried multiplied by the distance flown”, divided by the available seat miles, or the number of seats available for sale multiplied by the distance flown”. Southwest continued only in the domestic United States markets as of 2008 (Inkpen 2008).

This proposal addresses the needed steps to be taken in order for Southwest Airlines to see continued growth in the airline industry. Southwest Airlines has been able to remain one of the most profitable airlines in the industry for an extended period of time. Even with the hindrance of the 2001 terrorist attacks involving airplanes and the U.S recession of 2008, Southwest has continued to see strong revenue growth. Meanwhile, other companies were experiencing major losses and in some cases folding. Southwest Airlines has capitalized on the company’s strength of being the top low cost

Southwest was the first major airline to introduce a ticket-less travel option. The company eliminated the need to print a paper ticket altogether. The company also began using a computer reservation system to provide ticketing and automated booking services to customers. Together, with the above programs, the company created Internet ticket-less travel sales (Southwest 2005).

Southwest Airlines was started in 1971 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. Their idea was

Southwest Airlines was created in the late 1960’s by a businessperson Rolling King, and law school graduate Herb Kelleher, who sought a faster travel time between Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, Texas (Dess, et al., 2014, p. C137). After overcoming all of the antagonism and legal problems of many major airlines, Southwest was able to take its first flight in 1971 (Dess, et al., 2014, p.C137). With a dedication and will power to grow the company, King and Kelleher sought out ways to increase growth.