Southwest Airlines in 2010: Culture, Values, and Operating Practices

Southwest Airlines began operations in 1971, with the company's initial service taking place between Dallas, Texas, Houston, Texas, and San Antonio, Texas (Southwest Airlines, 2006). Rollin King and Herb Kelleher started the company with a simple mission focused on being different than other airlines; their chief focus was to provide on time flights at a low cost, along with a bit of fun (Southwest Airlines). As Welch (2005) argued, Southwest Airlines was the world's richest and most profitable airline, illustrating the success the company enjoyed as a result of a simple, yet practical strategy. Hill & Jones (2004) explained that an emergent strategy

Southwest Airline employees mainly belong to the Union and they are mainly full time workers. Since the Union has demand more services and benefits for their members, the company gain limited profit. To fix this the company should hire more part time workers instead of full time workers because they do not have to provide full benefits and instead focusing on gaining profit. And also, Southwest Airlines should make all flights within the states point-to-point flights, and give their employees a strict time lines to alleviate delays. This will keep an accurate time frame for customers. As far as the flight concerns, Southwest Airline has only one dependable

Controlling operational costs is a challenge for all airlines. Southwest Airlines strategies include; implementing a fuel hedge policy, using one type of aircraft, and maintaining a low employee turnover rate. On the other hands, the merging itself pushes the

* Standardization of airplanes’ fleet. Having the same 737 plane model (which has a reputation of being excellent

Southwest is operating in a very tough environment during this time period. Oil prices start at $65 dollars a barrel in 2006 and rise all the way up to $140 a barrel by mid 2008. Then in mid 2008 Oil prices come crashing from $140 to $43 a barrel at the start of 2009. This volatility is very bad for a company like Southwest that has a huge portion of it’s operating cost tied to the price of oil. This is why we see a huge loss in the derivative hedging line in the Operating Cash Flow Statement. Also, the economy was in a major recession due to failure of many mortgagee-backed securities. As people’s discretionary income was eaten away they began to

Within the airline industry, Southwest is best known for their customer loyalty. Which is derived from staffing capabilities, as their hiring process is selective and training is highly regimented and rigorous yet, wages, benefits, and empowerment for incentivization are extraordinary. Additionally, every policy established has a centralized focus on the customer first, rather than the

Southwest Airlines continues growth during challenging times with no its low price, no frills and good customer satisfaction, setting themselves apart from the competition. Organizational change is part of the culture that successfully allows Southwest Airlines to set itself apart. The airline industry is subject to external forces such as fuel prices, labor costs, passenger economic status, and public perception. Southwest Airlines has developed a successful business model based on standardization and efficiency that has allowed them to keep operating costs low and as predictable as possible.

Southwest Airlines Co is a low-cost airline in the United States. Southwest is the largest airline in the United States by number of domestic passengers carried per year .Southwest, the sixth largest US airline by revenue and it maintains the second largest fleet of airliners of all commercial airlines worldwide. On the July 12, 2008, Southwest operated approximately 3,500 daily flights. Southwest is based in the 2702 Love Field Drive Texas, adjacent to the airport Love Field (Gittell, 2004).

Southwest Airline is one of the most successful airlines. Southwest Airline success is because the airline stays on track with the company’s mission. The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered while keeping cost low. Since September 11, 2001 many airlines have struggle to survive. The airlines again are struggling because of the low economy. Southwest Airlines shows the example on how combining different strategies a company can because successful.

The airline industry is an enormous industry that has been growing since January 1, 1914 the first day a plane was carrying a paying customer. Southwest Airlines was founded on March 15, 1967 in Dallas, Texas. Since that day Southwest has been growing faster than a newborn baby on formula. Southwest now flies more than 47,000 people, has more than 3,600 flights a day and is flying to 94 destinations through the United States and is in six additional countries. Southwest is very large and stable, it perfectly reflects its entire industry. Although this is going to be mostly about Southwest one will be able to have a good idea as to how the rest of the companies in this industry are affected by some factors.

The airline company of Southwest Airlines was founded in 1971 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. Southwest Airlines originally started by just servicing the Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio areas in Texas. Some things that Southwest became known for right off the bat were a frequent miles program, which allowed the traveler to bank traveler air miles to be latterly used credit for a free ticket or even some reduced airfare. Southwest also was ranked number one in its customer service for the fourth consecutive year in a row in 1984. Two years later, Southwest took over Transtar Airlines and also took over Morris Air in 1994.

Southwest Airlines is a major U.S. airline that primarily provides short haul, high frequency, point- to point, low fare services. It was founded by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. Southwest Airlines had based its headquarters in Texas and commenced operations on June 18, 1971 with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving three cities within Texas.

Southwest Airlines was established in 1967 by Herb Kelleher in Dallas, Texas. The Airline was developed as a low-cost airline through their exclusive use of Boeing 747, always attempting to fill their planes to capacity, using a direct route system (as opposed to a hub and spoke system), and choosing not to serve meals during the flights. (Raynor, 2011) Originally it would only serve customers who wanted to travel across Texas; to Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas- with Dallas being their headquarters and their main operations occurring at Love Field. While they faced a tumultuous start due to threats they faced from regulations and competition due to their strategy not matching with other airlines at the time, in 1973 they “were profitable for the first time” (Southwest Airlines Co Success Story, n.d.) and have been profitable ever since.

Southwest’s ability to provide quality services to long standing customers has allowed the airline to be the lowest-costing airline (strength). However, the escalating fuel cost and the threat of other competitors modeling the same service (weakness). Nevertheless, Southwest Airline has continued profiting, even though difficult

There would also be a change in the volume of air traffic. The previously busy air traffic may die down due to the fact that people are travelling lesser. People would also want to travel cheaper. Hence, instead of taking planes they would choose cheaper means of transportation like trains, ships and coaches.