Southwest Airlines Essay

Southwest Airlines is based in Dallas and founded in 1971. They are known for their higher airfares and good customer services. (Elliot) The employees are known to be social with the travelers. They often times make changes and waive airline requirements. (Elliot) For example: “Robert Siegel and his wife scheduled a

Southwest Airlines is currently the fourth largest airline in the United States. It flies over 64 million passengers a year, which makes 2,700 passengers a day, traveling to 58 cities. Southwest is the only major carrier to remain profitable in every quarter since 9/11, opposed to many other companies who have declared bankruptcy. It is an influential company that has greatly contributed to the development of the commercial 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).

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

Southwest Airlines Co. is an airline company that offers air transportation services within the United States and in international markets. The company operates within the airline industry that is highly regulated, technology intensive, labor intensive, and highly competitive (Southwest Airlines, 2017). Southwest Airlines operates a service business whereby the company offers a point to point air transport service to its passengers. Other than passenger transport, the company offers transportation services for pets and unaccompanied minors. The flights offered include short haul and long haul between various destinations within the United States and internationally. In 2016, the company’s operating revenues from international operations amounted to $383 million. A unique feature of the Southwest Airlines is its cost structure whereby the company focuses on cost discipline and uses one aircraft type to minimize costs.

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.

Other important things to appreciate about Southwest include its large modern fleet of 547 aircraft which are all Boeing 737s. This is good because customers get to enjoy ample leg space and relatively wide aisles on the plane which is not the case even with some very big carriers. Southwest offers value to its customers and there is nothing that can beat this. Southwest also has constant deals coming out where people can fly for even lower fares on special days and this makes it the number one choice of all budget conscious passengers.

This paper will give a historical overview of the company, discuss the ingredients to the company success, offer some financial strengths and present a final conclusion. Section I: Southwest's History Twenty-seven years ago, Rollin King, a San Antonio entrepreneur who owned a small commuter air service, and Kelleher, who was a lawyer at the time, got together and decided to start a different kind of airline. They began with one simple notion. If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make certain they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. And you know what? They were right. Within those 27 years, Southwest Airlines became the fifth largest major airline in America. Today, they have flown over 50 million passengers a year to 54 cities all over the southwest and beyond. They do it over 2,300 times a day with over 267 of the newest jets in the nation and fly only one type aircraft; the B-737. The average age of their fleet is only 8.4 years and they own over sixty percent of them. In May 1988, they were the first airline to win the coveted U.S. Department of Transportation Triple Crown for a month - Best On-time Record, Best Baggage Handling, and Fewest Customer Complaints. Since then, they've won it

Southwest Airlines Co. began its operations in 1971 and has been serving the industry for the past 43 years now (Southwest Airlines, n.d.). It is the major domestic airline, and ranked number one in 2014 by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (United States Department of Transportation, 2014). Back in 1971 the airline began its services in Texas in the cities of Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. The company has been ranked as the nation's largest low cost carrier (Mergent, 2012). It offers the lowest fares, and has the lowest cost structure in the industry.

In 2013, Southwest has provided services to Puerto Rico and has launched Southwest services to 48 non-state destinations. In July 2014, Southwest became the first international airline to travel to Nassau, the Bahamas, Montego Bay, Jamaica and Aruba, and continues to expand. Southwest was created to explain the principle of honesty and fairness to our customers, and low rates are actually kept low. Southwest is the only major airline in the United States that offers free bags for everyone. This noteworthy business strategy includes primary and

Southwest Airlines is a company that is not only well known in the United States, but also happens to be the number 1 airline in terms of the number of seats and flights each year domestically. Over the years, Southwest has grown from its original three Boeing 737s to seven hundred and four making it Boeings top customer. Southwest entered the market as a broad cost leader (where it still sits today), offering substantially lower prices than competitors.

They now have one hundred one destinations in nine countries. That’s a far cry from just three cities in the beginning. One of the reasons they have grown and have been profitable every year for the past forty-four years (the last report was 2016), is they value their employees. This gives them a competitive advantage through their employees, as other companies can’t compete with the loyalty, knowledge, and determination to improve daily both themselves and the company. The simple fact that Southwest Airlines seem to have adopted the standardization strategy, “When a company decides to ignore different segments, and produce a standardized product for the average consumer” (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2015, p.

Southwest has a great reputation of treating their passengers like family, often telling jokes and word games during the flights. Southwest also treats their employees very well, offering a wide range of perks and benefits. Southwest employees are routinely the highest paid in the industry.

Southwest Airlines provides short haul, high frequency, point-to-point, low-fare services to and from 58 cities across the United States. The company is known for its low-cost fares and superior customer service in the airline industry. The company was started in 1971 with a motto still lived by today, "If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline." This motto has been effective for the company because they recently reported their 58th straight quarterly profit.

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.