Southwest Airlines Essay

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Introduction Southwest Airlines was founded in 1971 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. The company began as a regional Texas-based airline serving short routes between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Since then, it evolved to become an esteemed national brand, operating more than 3,600 daily flights between 94 destinations.(SWA Corporate Fact Sheet, n.d.). Among its most salient achievements, Southwest Airlines has recognized 42 years of annual profitability and consistently ranked in the top four list of most profitable airlines in the USA (SWA Corporate Fact Sheet, n.d.). Southwest Airlines distinguishes itself from its competitors through sheer cost leadership. Rather than attempting to provide obscure non-imitable services, their goal is simply to fly passengers from point A to point B with …show more content…

They must coordinate their various departments, build a strong foundation for friendly and helpful customer service, and most importantly guarantee a safe flight for their passengers. Southwest Airlines achieves these strategic goals through the use of software and big data. There are a few software which help Southwest maintain its competitive advantage. The company recently announced their use of Aspect, an integrated enterprise software that appeals to many of their needs (Aspect, 2013). This includes several CRM products: Unified IP 7.2 helps integrate all communications applications that are used so contact center agents can reach out to customers on various communication channels; Workforce Management 7.5 optimizes the work environment for agents; Quality Management is able to record interactions between customers and agents, and possesses tools to analyze the customers’ attitudes and satisfaction. Performance Management offers real-time KPI (Key Performance Indicator) dashboards that relate to the company’s operational objectives in the form

Labor Relations and Practice: Southwest Airlines
1085 Words | 3 Pages
Southwest Airlines is “America’s largest low-fare carrier” (Southwest, 2014). The Headquarters for Southwest Airlines reside in Dallas, Texas. Southwest Airlines was founded by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher and was originally planned to serve only a small three city area. “Southwest Airlines was incorporated in Texas and commenced Customer Service on June 18, 1971, with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving three Texas cities - Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio , and grew to become a major airline in 1989 when it exceeded the billion-dollar revenue mark (Southwest, 2014).
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Southwest Airlines Case Analysis
1400 Words | 3 Pages
Southwest Airlines is one of the biggest United States airlines which prides itself in its low-cost strategy to attract and keep up more clients. On a given day, Southwest Airlines operates over 3,400 flights. It has a more than of 46,000 employees. To reduce maintenance and training costs, Southwest Airlines use only Boeing 737s. As of today the company operates 647 Boeing 737s, which fly to 93 destinations across the US. Southwest Airlines have been able to survive even when faced with stiff competition because of its low cost approach. However, this success has also been attributed to the high level of care and appreciation on its clients and employees.
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Southwest Airlines: From the Beginning
1166 Words | 3 Pages
Southwest Airlines roots can be traced back to Texas in the 1960’s where a company by the name of Air Southwest Co. was created to provide interstate flights in Texas to avoid federal aviation laws. This technique of trying to avoid federal regulation was challenged when 3 other major airlines filed a lawsuit against Air Southwest Co.; later the state of Texas upheld Air Southwest Co. right to fly within the state of Texas and the Supreme Court decided not to review the case. (Southwest Airlines, n.d.) This was a challenging start for Southwest as it was being targeted right off the bat by some of its competitors. The company name was changed in the early 1970’s to Southwest Airlines Co. and a headquarters was established in Dallas, TX. The company’s main focus was interstate flights between the 3 major cities in Texas including Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. (Southwest Airlines, n.d.)
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Southwest Airline Merger With AirTran
1448 Words | 3 Pages
Another internal challenge for Southwest Airlines is the conflicting management style and business operation with AirTran. On top of that, the external challenges such as the increase of competitions and gas prices are some of issues f...
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A Case Study: Building Business Agility At Southwest Airlines
739 Words | 2 Pages
Despite its growing domestic network, the company didn’t offer international flights until July 2014, and even then, it only offered limited destinations (“Southwest Corporate Fact Sheet,” n.d.). Furthermore, the company’s reliance on a single aircraft is cause for concern. Southwest Airlines was also weak with technology utilization initially but has since turned this into an asset, as described later. Finally, the company has a limitation with providing customer perks due to its low-cost operations (Ross & Beath,
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Southwest Airlines
2969 Words | 6 Pages
This is the historic background of an American Airline company called the Southwest Airlines Co. based in Dallas which still exists and operates with great success between 57 cities in 26 states of the US, by over 300 airplanes , providing primarily short-haul, high frequency, point to point, low fare service . Through this essay we will see an analysis of the company’s advantages and disadvantages through a SWOT Analysis. We will try to localize the problems of the company at the time and in the case of a future expansion, and we will try to give a number of alternative solutions and chose one of them. The Southwest Airlines is a company that has done its first movements in the airline world in 1971 after many efforts for its opening through legal battles with competitors that did not believe that there was any particular reason why the another airline company should exist among all the others already existing. The different things that the new airline company provided were many and very interesting. The idea started from two friends Rolling King, and investment advisor, and Herb Kelleher, his lawyer, who met in order to discuss the idea of Rolling King for a low-fare, no- frills airline to fly between three major cities in Texas. The outcome of this discussion was in reality the decision of the two men to go for something that they believed would work, even though they were not positive about that. After all the legal battles between the two men and the airline companies of Texas at the time who believed it was not necessary for another airline company to enter the market, battles that prevented the operation of the company for three whole years, Southwest Airlines Co. had become a reality. Other legal battles followed in the future that justified the Southwest Airlines but left the company broke, while during the first year of its operations made losses and the earnings for the next half a year were balancing with costs. Gladly the recovery came soon and by 1978 Southwest Airlines was one of the most profitable in the country. Later on, Southwest Airlines Co. managed to provide airline transportation in eight more cities in Texas and dominated the Texas market, with low prices and frequent departures. Today the Southwest Airlines Co. is a very big domestic airline company, the fourth in the US. We will now have a small analysis of the company’s environme...
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Southwest Airlines
930 Words | 2 Pages
Southwest Airlines strategy of focusing on short haul passenger and providing rates as low as one third of their competitors, they have seen tremendous growth in the last decade. Market share for top city pairs on Southwest's schedule has reached 80% to 85%. Maintaining the largest fleet of 737's in the world and utilizing point-to-point versus the hub-and-spoke method of connection philosophy allowed Southwest to provide their service to more people at a lower cost. By putting the employee first, Southwest has found the key to success in the airline business. A happy worker is a more productive one as well as a better service provider. Southwest will continue to reserve their growth in the future by entering select markets only after careful market research.
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Southwest Airlines: A Case Analysis
1537 Words | 4 Pages
Even though Southwest offers no-frills, there is still a high degree of customer satisfaction that continuously builds customer loyalty for the company. As mentioned, Southwest offers low prices on their airplane tickets. Also, Southwest is renowned in the airline industry for its short turnaround time on arrivals and departures. And since people's biggest concern nowadays is money and time, having low price airline tickets to cater their traveling needs in a shorter period of time will surely satisfy them. Moreover, aside from the low prices offered, what attracts to customers is Southwest’s way in dealing with them. The employees of the airline treat their customers well and really listen to their needs.
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Southwest Airlines Case Analysis
1690 Words | 4 Pages
More than 37 years ago, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher 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 darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. And you know what? They were right. What began as a small Texas airline has grown to become one of the largest airlines in America. Today, Southwest Airlines flies over 104 million passengers a year to 64 great cities all across the country, and we do it more than 3,400 times a day.
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Importance Of Southwest Airlines: A Model Of Innovation
1315 Words | 3 Pages
The marketing approach of Southwest Airlines is built upon their strong business model. They have successfully managed to target two specific market segments of the airline industry while remaining profitable. Their strategy is simple, to offer frequent non-stop flights with the lowest costs which appeal to both the business and budget travelers. By segmenting their target audience to specific demographics and ticket pricing, passengers know exactly what they are getting for the price they pay.
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Southwest Airlines
1119 Words | 3 Pages
In the airline industry, Southwest Airlines is considered a true innovator. By shaking up the rules of flying and improving upon inefficient industry norms, Southwest has quickly grown by leaps and bounds. From the very start, Southwest Airlines' goals were to make a profit, achieve job security for every employee, and make flying affordable for more people (Southwest,2007). Southwest has not strayed from these goals. It does not buy huge aircrafts, fly international routes or try to go head to head with the major carriers; and thanks to a great planning, Southwest airlines has become the most successful airline company in the U.S., if not the world.
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Case Study Of Southwest Airlines
739 Words | 2 Pages
Since CEO Gary Kelly took the reins of the company back in 2004, Southwest has maintained and enhanced the company’s ability to offer customers a great flying experience for low fares. This effort start early in Mr. Kelly’s tenure when he identified four success factors
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Case Analysis On Southwest Airlines
859 Words | 2 Pages
Southwest has comprehensive strategy and they work with harmony. They are low cost airlines which make the customer feel like royalty. Southwest have a winning strategy is proven by their profit year after year even thought they had economy crisis. Since 1973 Southwest reported a profit each year even when they lost billions of dollars from the year 1980 to 2009 because of the low operating cost strategy, low fares and customer service. Since the start of Southwest they have stay faithful of keeping low cost across the industry. Their value in corporate culture reflected through their prices and customer service.
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Cost-Leadership Strategies Of Southwest Airlines: Cost Leadership Strategy
2676 Words | 6 Pages
It all started in 1971, when Rolling King and Herb Kelleher decided to challenge the existing rut of charging high prices for air travels. They considered the railways and roadways their competitors and decided to offer cheaper travel for smaller routes. The company was incorporated in 1967, apart from initial entry troubles, Southwest has been the only US airline to have earned profits since 1973. The eccentric company’s outlandish way of conducting themselves has been the sole reason for Southwest Airlines to succeed in a highly competitive and packed industry.
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Southwest Airlines: Business Creativity and Innovation
2000 Words | 4 Pages
The mission of Southwest Airlines is a dedication to the highest quality of service delivered with warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit (Mission…, 2007). The company also provides opportunities for learning and personal growth to each employee. Creativity and innovation is very important and highly encouraged, for the purposes of improving effectiveness. Employees are to be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that the employees are expected to share with the customer. Southwest Airlines was initially created to be a low-cost alternative to high price of intra-Texas air carriers (Freiberg, 1996). Southwest’s fares were originally supposed to compete with car and bus transportation. It was a little airline, and it would withstand the test of time. As a discount, no-frills airline, it would provide stiff competition for larger airlines. Their strategy was to operate at low cost, offering no food, no movies, no first class, and no reserved seats. They created their own market and provided increased turnaround times at the gate, by avoiding hub-and-spoke airports and opting for short-haul, direct flights. Through this market approach, Southwest has a majority of market share in the markets they serve.
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