Southwest Airlines is the third airline by number of passengers in the world, the largest airline in the United States on domestic routes and the world's largest low-cost airline. Southwest Airlines is known as the founder of low-cost airlines. Moreover, the company has brought a lot of innovations in the air transport industry. It was the first airlines that abandoned paper tickets, allowed booking seats via the Internet, began using only one type of aircraft, and allowed choose any free seat in the cabin.
Every day Southwest Airlines carries out at least three thousand flights worldwide. The company serves scheduled flights to 93 different destinations in 41 states on the territory of the United States, Puerto Rico and abroad. The most popular domestic Southwest Airlines flights are carried out to Chicago, Washington DC, Las Vegas, Dallas, Orlando, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, San Francisco, Nashville, Houston, St. Louis, and Atlanta. As for the destinations abroad there are flights to Mexico and the Caribbean. The great advantage of the airline is the flights from small towns. In addition, convenient Southwest Airlines schedule allows passengers to find a
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The only aircraft manufacturer with which the company has been cooperating for many years is Boeing. There are 5 different models of this aircraft. For 40 years, Southwest Airlines has developed its own unique corporate culture and traditions. For example, flight attendants are famous for unusual announcements on board. They sing the announcements to the tune of modern and popular songs. And when in 2005, the carrier said goodbye to its last old-timer, Boeing 737-200, the flight attendants greeted the passengers in the Texas night pajamas. But despite such tricks, statistics are in favor for the staff’s professional behavior. You can safely book Southwest Airlines flights as there were no air accident fatalities throughout the
Southwest airlines is one of the most widely respected companies among those profiled by Firms of Endearment. They are recognized for having one of the best corporate cultures, which is emphatically encouraged from the top down. Southwest’s model clearly exemplifies the concept of servant leadership, and we will elaborate on how this creates a firm of endearment.
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).
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.)
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,
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.
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 customers is Southwest’s way of dealing with them. The employees of the airline treat their customers well and really listen to their needs. Southwest Airlines is also well-known for having a very productive and loyal workforce.
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.
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.
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.
For example, the company would exclusively use the Boeing 737 aircraft, reducing maintenance costs and training. Southwest also departed from the traditional “Hub-and-spoke” method of scheduling flights, a method that would commonly create irregular traffic patterns. Instead, Southwest scheduled flights to reduce the time aircraft spent idle at gates, using a method known as “Point-to-point” flight scheduling.
Southwest Arilines has been facing direct competition in 9 routes of the intra-Califonia market with United Airlines and their "Shuttle By United." Shuttle By United was designed to be a high-frequency, low fare, minimal amenity, short-haul flight operation initially serving destinations in California and adjacent states who's intent wsa to "match Southwest's strategy." In the four months since Shuttle By United's inception competition has been fierce resulteing in Southwest and United slashing prices and envoking a merkteting blitz in this 9 route area. Recent news highlighted that Shuttle By United intended to discontinue some service (perticularly the Oakland-Ontraio route) and raise fares $10.00 per ticket. Southwest's respons to this and the coninued threat of losing market share to United should be:
The low cost and no frills strategy is make travel affordable at low cost. The company only operates one type of aircraft which is Boeing 737 to help maintenance cost low. Southwest was the first airline to use E-ticketing in this way customer can reserve spot and buy ticket on their web and allow less expense in printing tickets. Medium measured airports which allowed them to produce better time performance and less fuel costs so plane do not have to wait in the line at the runway. The core value of the company of “LUV and fun” makes the company great place to work that gives customer with a great experience.
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.
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.