The Merger Of Airtran By Southwest Airlines

Currently, Southwest Airlines Company achieved the higher net income in 2013 and widened its field of operations by the integration with AirTran Airways. It seems Southwest’s business is going pretty well. However, there are numerous problems from competitors who will cause negative effect on Southwest’ market leader position and market shares. This marketing plan will make a careful analysis of the current activities of Southwest Airlines Company, and then this marketing plan will create how the company develop Southwest’s market leadership and higher market shares within 5years.

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 merger is expected to take a total of 5 years with an end result of a fleet of nearly one thousand planes covering more than 150 cities in United States with connecting flights to more than 30 countries around the world. All evidence indicates that a merger between Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airlines can be completed within 5 years and will be successful in helping the merged company become the industry leader in low-cost, high customer service airline carriers in North America. The minor obstacles such as redundant cities, a balloon payment owed by JetBlue, redundant Point of Sales Systems and baggage tracking systems, and a surplus of employees, is negligible and easily resolved during the 5-year merge period. A few decisions will still need to be made such as what to do about employee contracts being different between the two carriers and pension plans but the merger is being given a good to very good rating for its chances to succeed as

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.

Southwest Airlines has recently acquired AirTran Airways, which was a global company, this acquisition it put Southwest in a great spot to expand to the global market. Southwest is integrating the AirTran Airways international stops in Aruba, Jamaica, the Bahamas with their original domestic stops in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Orlando starting July 1st 2014 according to an article in US Today. Next they are looking to service 6 Latin American destinations including Belize City, Cancun, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and San Jose del Cabo/ Los Cabos starting in October 2015 (Zacks Equity Research, 1-2). These Latin American destinations are strategic because they are close to Southwest’s headquarters in Dallas TX, and they are prime vacation spots (Jones, 3). This will give more people a cheaper way to vacation, and bring more people into these

Southwest Airlines shot out of the gates, much to the chagrin of their competitors as a short haul, low fare, and high frequency carrier. As SWA expanded and deregulation occurred, they had to decide what kind of airline they wanted to be and how they would adapt to the changing environment. The FAA reports that passenger numbers are expected to reach a billion passengers in 2023 (FAA, 2011). Most Airlines are responding to the increased demand by centralizing and consolidating their assets. This in turn creates a situation where capacity is maximized in some airports and congestion increases causing significant delay. Demand will continue to rise over the next few decades and these airlines must rely on regulators and policy makers to upgrade the very necessary infrastructure and technology. Southwest’s strategy is to remain a point to point carrier instead of the traditional hub and spoke carrier, satisfying their customer demand with lower congestion at underutilized airports with more flights. However Southwest continues to remain flexible looking forward as it adopts hub and spoke techniques, coordinates with the FAA and governing bodies, and invests heavily in its most important airports to stay ahead of the pack.

The acquisition of AirTran is a great choice for Southwest. Air Tran is also pursuing a low-cost strategy, so there is a good fit from the standpoint of their core competitive approaches. AirTran has flights to several attractive geographic areas and

using their own core competencies to turn the airline around. By applying their own strategies,

Decreased online reservation can be a problem: customers like me prefer to purchase ticket via travel agencies to have different options and better deals compare to going directly to an airline website to purchase ticket. Another problem will be how will a loyal customer that earned points/rewards on Expedia or Priceline use the points on Southwest website after the merger? This can be an issue because travel agencies websites offers rewards programs that let you earned points as a frequent flyer and the points can be used for future purchases. In addition, Southwest offers only one option of seating while tickets bought on third party websites have the options of choosing seat like first- class, business class and economy class. That can be an issue for major business travelers who prefer spacious seating, luxury and privacy. After the merging, managers should continue to use travel agency websites in order to boost sales and keep up with competition. Also, managers should to encourage customers to sign up for rewards offer by signing up for a credit card, as it’s a good marketing strategy. Managers should cut down cost by not having to customize AirTran flights and the options of first-class and economy seating should still be offered.

AirTran had flights to International vacation destinations such as Aruba, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, (Perlson & Saunders, 2013, p 97)) Airtran also had its services to a few more international destinations such as Cancun, Mexico, and many Caribbean destinations, this would give Southwest the quintessential opportunity for its first international service.

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

At the onset of the airline industry in the United States, major network airlines were the sole providers of air travel. This multifaceted industry was a difficult industry to break into as a consequence of “sophisticated customer segmentation, hub-and spoke models and costly information systems for reservations, fare wars and intense competition” (Thompson 2008). Shrinkage in airline ticket prices augmented the demand for airline travel. Many markets were simply deserted or over-looked by major network airlines; this is a region a fresh “second tier of service providers” could enter into. This endeavor proved to provide a consumer savings of billions per year. Thus in June of 1971, after a tumultuous battle with other Texas-based

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 has experienced remarkable growth by continuing to convert cities to Southwest service by purchasing four Air Tran cities for $1.4 billion in 2011. Although this was a smart choice to continue to grow, spending over a billion dollars hurt them financially. They predicted around election time that consumer demand would improve having them gain more revenue, but there predictions were wrong causing them to still be financially tight. In April, Charlotte, N.C., Flint, Michigan; Portland, Maine; and Rochester, N.Y. will be converting to Southwest service.

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.