Strengths And Weaknesses Of Southwest Airlines

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

It would bring in more customers and the customers that have flown before will probably fly again. Employees love spending time on the airplane talking to the customers. Customers like employees who make them feel safe or a person who is fun to talk to. Capacity is another thing that will affect the company. Even though there are more people coming in, Southwest Airlines will have to have more plane to transport people. If they do not, things will fall down. Second, it is the time management; because if the company is slow, they would go to another airplane company. Some companies take forever to get their flyers abroad. They get all of their flyers abroad quicker than some others even though Southwest Airlines is a larger company. Southwest Airlines either avoid canceling people tickets besides the weather or they change tickets to another flight quicker. When people accidently put the wrong place, Southwest Airlines can change it quickly unlike some other

Since 1973, Southwest has been profitable even year. Their strategy included many factors like offering no-frills, short-haul, high-frequency, point-to-point, and low-fair service. Using point-to-point because they acquired only one model of the plane then figured out the latest way to turn an airplane around, using less busy airports, alongside with no meals provided or assigned seating. Southwest also did not have an assigned seat for their passengers but rather given the boarding numbers at the gate eliminating the double-booked seats. Further through the case, it

At Southwest Airlines, the company’s business strategy has a positive effect on the training they provide to their employees. Southwest Airlines is a Texas based airline that started up in 1971 (Corporate Fact Sheet). Over the years the airline has been recognized for its outstanding customer service and its low airfare fees. Due to their excellent customer service, the company has been ranked number one in customer satisfaction in 2013 by the U.S Department of Transportation. In. 2015, Southwest airlines was recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award. The reason that Southwest airlines is recognized for all these great things is because they obtain a good organizational control over the airline.

Southwest’s management deserves a grade of A+, it is hard to see what Southwest could have done much better. The best examples being the company’s array of employee management practices and their strong commitment to identifying and implementing ways to keep its costs low. Southwest is a company with no glaring weaknesses or critical operating problems, but there are areas of concern. Southwest has lost some of its cost advantages in recent years, rival airlines have been slashing costs to survive, particularly in the areas of pilot salaries and employee salaries. Southwest has also been moving into airports with higher landing fees and more congestion.

Southwest's competitive advantage in providing low cost is of the primary reasons which their competitors couldn’t match. The airline has the lowest costs on a per mile basis among all the major airlines as they used single aircraft type and the highly efficient, high-frequency ad point-to-point route scheme. Due to this commoditization of the industry, passenger profiles have changed with business and first class seat demand in great decline. This correlates perfectly with Southwest's position of no assigned seats or class designations. Competing companies have been forced to introduce low fare options in attempts to regain lost market share from low priced air carriers. Because Southwest's strategy has always been low cost, and standardized travel, they have not had to change strategy. This has saved them what could amount to millions on restructuring costs. Also, some of the competitors tried to increase no of flights which resulted in operational ineffectiveness

Even though, the business environment is highly competitive that does not stop Southwest Airlines to grow until recording its 43rd consecutive year of profit at the end of 2015. It is a profitable company that people should be interested in as they have returned $4.3 billion in dividends and share repurchases, that means the company has a lot of cash in hand it can use to improve its service to be more

When it comes to the external environments of Southwest airlines there are many things to consider. The general environment and the industry in general are thing to consider. A major challenge that must have due consideration is competition.

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

Just looking at Southwest’s operational issues does not tell the whole story of the company’s success. They were unique in that they flew only one type of aircraft, which minimized maintenance concerns, and they used smaller less congested airports. They also eliminated meal service, paper boarding passes, and reserved seating which freed the staff to focus on the more important issues of timeliness and turning the plane quickly and efficiently. But in addition to these new operational techniques, it was the “Southwest Spirit” of customer service that set the airline apart from their competitors from the beginning. And that spirit started at the top and permeated throughout the organization. In fact, Southwest developed a culture of valuing people. A culture that included not only valuing the customers they served, but of the employees who comprise the southwest community or family as it became known.

Southwest Airlines is a fairly impressive organization. Throughout their history they have proven to be resilient. In their early days they had to ward off pressures that were placed on them from the more dominant airlines in their area. These airlines tried to force them out of business using regulatory pressures. The second impressive show of resiliency came when in the 1970’s the government tried to force southwest out of Love Field to the new Fort Worth airport that the government had invested in heavily. Another impressive feat of the airline is its can-do attitude. Throughout it’s history even when things were dire they still persevered. In my experience this is a monumental task as it is so easy to breed negativity instead

Southwest Airlines has been in business for nearly 43 years and has over 44,000 employees. Southwest has a current operating income of $17.7 billion ("Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com", n.d). Like all great companies Southwest is currently looking to expand its services beyond their current borders. With the acquisition of its newest company AirTran, another low-cost airline, the expansion is more of a reality. With this expansion come changes to services as well as changes to staffing. Southwest does not want its values to be lost with expansion and wants current and future employees to reap the benefits of the organization.

According to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, Southwest Airlines is currently the third largest airline in the world, measured by the number of passengers carried. Total number of passengers that were carried in the year 2005 amounted to 77.7 million. They are behind American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. After the tragic September 11th incident, Southwest airlines remains as one of the only major airlines that are still profitable. After the September 11th attacks, Southwest Airline's 6 biggest competitors grounded 240 planes and laid off 70,000 people. Southwest kept every single person and plane flying. In fact, they have been so successful, even other airlines have started to copy their practices. One of the biggest reasons

Southwest Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the United States by number of passengers carried each year (Inkpen, 2013). The company had been profitable for decades unlink other major competitors and also was able to weather 2008-09 recession (Inkpen, 2013). At southwest, leadership philosophy is to manage well at good times to prosper through bad times (Inkpen, 2013). The airlines we found by Herb Kelleher and San Antonio in the year 1970. Southwest began flying in year 1971 in three Texas cities with three aircrafts and 25 employees. Its initial focus: Short-haul, point-to-point flights, a fleet of Boeing 737s, low fares and high-frequency flights (Inkpen, 2013). In year 2012, 81% of its passengers booked tickets via

Southwest’s business model has resulted in consistent on-time performance, low fares, diligent bag handling, and high levels of customer satisfaction. Southwest passengers who experience the airline 's excellent service are loyal and this in turn attracts more business. Southwest has created a successful and profitable product in the tough airline industry year-on-year, resulting in creation of value and high return on investment for its shareholders.