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Southwest Airline

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Southwest Airline
Southwest Airlines: SWOT Analysis
Mollika Thaing, Khoa Tran, Tonielia Thomas, Hiwot Tesfaye, Kai Spear
Mgmt. Prin. & Org. Behavior
Professor Leon Prieto
11/18/2013

Southwest Airlines’ Description
Southwest Airlines was introduced in Texas on June 18, 1971 with three Boeing 737 airplanes and only serving three cities of Texas which included Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. The company came a long way since 1971; today Southwest Airlines has 537 Boeing 737 airplanes and serving 68 cities around the US. Southwest Airlines has become a major airline in 1989 when it hit the billion-dollar revenue mark. Southwest Airlines is the United States’ most successful airline due to the low fares, high frequency, and point-to-point carrier. According to the Southwest Airlines Fact Sheet 2010 “Southwest operates more than 3,200 flights a day coast-to-coast, making it the largest U.S. carrier based on domestic passengers’ carrier as of September 30, 2009”. As June 2011, Southwest Airlines has become the top airline to carries the most domestic passengers in the US. Southwest Airlines in 2013 has expanded their destination to 86 cities in 42 states and Puerto Rico.
The current CEO of Southwest Airlines is Gary Kelly and his vision for the company is “to connect people to what important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low cost air travel”. According to the swamedia.com “Gary is a 27-years Southwest veteran who began his career at Southwest Airlines as Controller, moving up to Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance, then Executive Vice President and CFO, before being promoted to CEO and Vice Chairman in July 2004. Gary assumed the roles of Chairman and President in 2008. Prior to joining Southwest Airlines in 1986, Gary was a CPA for Arthur Young & Company in Dallas and Controller for Systems Center, Inc.” Gary has received many awards during his 27 years with the company and twice being named CEO of the year by D CEO


References: Case analysis: Southwest airlines. (2012, may 17). Retrieved from http://netmbastudy.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/case-analysis-southwest-airlines/ Gale Encyclopedia of Small Business
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