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Southwest Airline of the Future

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Southwest Airline of the Future
Southwest Airline of the Future

Mike Reeder Indiana Wesleyan University June 24, 2013

SOUTHWEST AIRLINE OF THE FUTURE Southwest has a strong excellent reputation shown in the Diamond Award that it won this past year in the Air Cargo World’s Air Cargo Excellence (Southwest Among Repeat Winners, 2013). Another strength of Southwest is that it has been in business for the last 42 years and made it 36 years in a row with a positive profit (Southwest Airlines Co. Focus on Fundamental, 2009). This is a record that any Fortune 500 company would be envious. Southwest when it started, was thinking out of the box. Most airlines have the mind set of “hub-and-spoke service” were Southwest focused on “point-to-point”. “Point-to-point service allows for direct nonstop routing by minimizing connections, delays and total trip time.” (MarketLine, 2012). This is one of the strategies that let it build a strong faithful customer base that has grown it to where it is today. With its employees always going the extra step, pilots handling baggage and attendants putting provisions on board, have the spirit of let 's be the best and the most on time airline (Muduli & Karua, 2011). This is how you gain market share with employees. Southwest always focused on the family value in its company (Mikeeva, 2011). It shared its profits with the employee there is no better way in business to get the employee on board then to make them an owner.

You cannot do everything right all the time it is a company run by humans. The greatest weakening being done and may get worse is the pending class action lawsuits by the stock holders of Air Trans Holding a cargo airline, which Southwest acquired in 2010 (Datamonitor, 2012). This could strike a fatal blow or near fatal when it is settled. Looming over the operation is not building the company. It is taking manpower and company energy away from the company. It may even have some


References: Southwest Airlines Co. Focus on Fundamental. (2009, March). Institutional Investor, 43(2), pp. 58-58. Datamonitor. (2012, NOV). Retrieved JUNE 22, 2013, from www.datamonitor.com. MarketLine. (2012, Nov 30). Retrieved June 22, 2013, from www.marketline.com: DEFBDE99-9B78-4A63-7EA7568D476E Southwest Among Repeat Winners. (2013, April). Air Cargo World, 103(3), pp. 28-36. Managers, C. b. (2012). Pearson Custom Business Resources. (P. F. Boles, Ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions. Mikeeva, Y. (2011, Febuary 18). EzineArticals.com. Retrieved from http://EzineArticles.com/5951367 Muduli, A., & Karua, V. (2011). Southwest Airlines Success: A Case Study Analysis. BVIMR Management Edge, 115-118.
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