Southwest Airlines Hub Capacity And Congestion Management

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).

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

Southwest Airlines (SWA) maintained a low-cost, low-price and no frills strategy. The small Texas carrier began as a concept, its business plan detailed on a cocktail napkin in 1971 and grew into the nation’s fourth largest airline. Known as an innovator with low operating costs, dominating smaller airports, with a humorous customer service, SWA saw its 40th profitable year in 2013. Like all companies, SWA underwent leadership changes in 2001, and said goodbye to the company’s founder in 2008. Unfortunately, the changes in leadership were not the only changes; the organization proceeded to alter their beliefs and activities.

Today the hub and spoke concept is used at most major airports throughout the United States such as Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas. The new system allows air travelers two key concepts in air travel. The first, experienced by those that live in close proximity to the central hub, saw a significant increase in both flights available and service areas. The second key point is with air travelers that live near the spoke or regional areas of the routes. Those near the spokes have gained hundreds of new destinations with the new system. By traveling from the serving airports to the hubs air travelers are able to reach destinations on servicing or regional airlines that would not have existed prior to deregulation.

Southwest Airlines is a passenger airline company that arranges and provides scheduled flights for passenger and transportation freight services. The company mainly provides, low-fare, point-to-point services all over the US and near-international markets. The headquarters is located in Dallas, Texas and as of December 2014, the company employed over 46,278 people. The company was founded by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher in 1971. Southwest was the first airline to introduce the frequent mile program. This took place in the mid 1980’s. This type of program allowed passengers to add up traveled miles to use later as credit on a future airline ticket. The traveled miles would add up and would also reduce the price of a ticket. Southwest created the idea of senior discount, fun fares and the fun packs. These were perks that attracted people from different age groups. When Southwest originally was incorporated, the idea was to operate in three cities in Texas, but after taking over Morris Air and TranStar in 1987, this gave them a cutting advantage in the airline industry.

The JPDO (Joint Planning and Development Office) has been setup to facilitate the development of NextGen. Apart from that, the tracking system has been updated and routes have been improved significantly. Airline forecasting and algorithms have allowed improvements in prices and costs for airlines in the industry. The average age of an aircraft in the industry is around 13 years. The market is expected to grow and revenues are likely to increase. HOW SOUTHWEST SHOULD CONFRONT THESE THREATS

Thus, Before the merging of AirTran, Southwest’s main objectives consisted of various business strategies. For example, Southwest Airlines first strategy focused on point-to-point routes because it eliminated the need for connections, resulted in more direct routes, reduced delays and overall travel time. Southwest Airlines lands at small airports to steer clear of the congestion, to achieve high asset utilization, and to provide maximum convenience for passengers. In addition, Southwest has a workforce that is motivated in providing quick aircraft

While Southwest Airlines has increased their global distribution system network in recent years, there are still areas

In the opinion of Dr. Grace S. Thomson, “a heterogeneous mix of long and short-haul in very thing segments, passenger, density, and per capita income at end points gives [Southwest Airlines] competitive advantage. The way to establish a company in such a market as the airline industry would be to strategically expand in to airports with less competition. Southwest Airline capitalized on this fact to become a national airline (Keller 2008). Southwest Airlines satisfies what were once negligible markets. Southwest serves “64 cities in 411 non-stop city pairs” (Thompson 2008). Saturating these markets has allowed Southwest Airlines to expand without putting a strain on its pocket book (Keller

This short paper is an overview of Southwest Airlines, its strategy, and what role Human

When on vacation, the first people you deal with are the airline companies, yes this is the dreaded trip to the airport. Way to often people have their happy vacations ruined by inconsistent and unreliable customer service, making them late for flights because of long lines, slow service, and unreliable technology that is difficult to use. However, Southwest airlines is one company that is standing out above all others. Known for their outstanding customer service and “Bags Fly Free” campaign, Southwest has held their ground against rising prices in airline travel and continued to expand its reaches while at the same time attracting many satisfied customers. Southwest Airlines was founded on June 18, 1971 by Rollen King and Herb Kellener. The very same year, Southwest began its flights servicing Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Southwest quickly climbed the ranks within airline the industry and became the fifth largest US air carrier by 1998, carrying an average of 50 million passengers a year across the United States. From then on, Southwest soared above the rest of the mid-range air carriers, and continues to do so to this day. Southwest quickly became known for its innovation when it comes to customer service and satisfaction, and it is still well known today for its simple and convenient customer service. Southwest has also been deeply involved when it comes to their social responsibilities, taking action to be ecofriendly whenever, and wherever possible. (Avstop)

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

There have been few inventions to change how people live and experience the world considerably as the creation of the airplane. Today, traveling by air has become the norm and it would be difficult to imagine life without it. Air travel has improved the way people are able to conduct business by shortening travel time and changing their thought of distance. The companies within the airline industry exist in a very competitive market. One of those companies, Southwest Airlines, features low-fare, no-frills air service with frequent flights of mostly short routes. Costs are kept down by the exclusive use of Boeing 737 aircraft, which allows for low maintenance costs and quicker turnaround times for flights, and by an emphasis on ticketless travel (Encyclopedia Britannica). This paper will address two segments of the general environment and how they affect Southwest and the airline industry; evaluate how Southwest has addressed two forces of competition; predict what Southwest might do to improve its ability to addresses these forces; assess the external threats affecting Southwest; discuss Southwest’s greatest strengths and most significant weaknesses; determine Southwest’s resources, capabilities, and core competencies; and analyze their value chain.

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.