Southwest airline is one of the major airlines in US.
By considering the car and the bus as its chief competition, Southwest became the most inexpensive and most frequent flights between urban markets separated by 500 miles. From 1992 to 1996, it got the airline industry’s more shining awards: the fewest delays, the fewest complaints and the fewest mishandled bags. It also aroused an affect called” Southwest effect”, which reduced fares by an average of 65% and increased passengers traffic by up to 500%.Southwest Airlines survived and competed with other airlines in the following way: a. Minimized the airplane’s time on the ground by turning aircraft around quickly at the gate. b.
Only one operating platform is used by Southeast - Boeing 737 c. Used smaller or less congested airports to avoid flight delay and maximize aircraft time in the air. d. Southwest did not offer in-flight meal, only beverages and snacks and did not transfer baggage to other airlines.
e. Open class seating f. Involved more time to select qualified candidates to work with Southwest, give new staffs training, highlighted teamwork and team spirit. g. Southwest’s schedule is of marketing driven instead of operationally driven. h.
No payment for ticket until the last minuteSouthwest got so many achievements by differentiating its strategy or taking some advantages from itself:The airplanes of Southwest are comparatively new, which impressed the passengers or market that they are safer to take. Additionally, because of its low cost, Southwest can attract lots of customers who want to pay less to travel. Meanwhile, Southwest decentralized its coordination leaving the service to employees on site at its airport station. By doing so, it can flexibly operate its coordination in the airport.Human resource management is another advantage Southwest differentiated from other airlines.
Its culture centered on family, fun and freedom, employees can switch their jobs, which highly enhance the morale of the employees. Finally, Southwest has built a very positive relationships with its unions while negotiating flexible work rules that would allow employees to perform the work. Southwest was the most heavily unionized U.S. airline, that allowed itself to also have a good contact with its employees.
