The airlines industry has historically been one of the most unprofitable industries. The reason can be explained when incorporating Michael Porter’s famous Five Forces Model. The threat of competition is Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) is an American low-cost airline based in Dallas‚ Texas‚ with its largest focus city at Las Vegas ’ McCarran International Airport. It is the largest airline in the United States by number of passengers carried domestically per year and (as of December 31‚ 2007)
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Case Analysis Southwest Airlines and Gary Kelly Oscar A. Anzaldua Davenport University Southwest Airlines Company is a well-known low-cost American airline that offers excellent customer and employee service. As of 2009 Southwest is the largest airline company in the world that carries the most number of passengers and it is the third largest passenger fleet of aircraft among the world’s commercial airlines. It also boasts the highest number of customers than any other airlines in the United
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Executive Summary As Southwest continues expanding‚ it is important that they maintain the low cost structure that has made them so successful historically. As larger and more congested destinations are added to Southwest’s routes‚ they must focus on customer service as the on-time arrivals and other metrics are certain to deteriorate. Additionally‚ in order to protect from volatile fuel prices‚ it would be prudent to expand the fuel-efficiency of the fleet by capitalizing on Boeing’s most
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MARKETING SPOTLIGHT- SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Southwest Airlines entered the airline industry in 1971 with little money‚ but lots of personality. Marketing itself as the LUV airline‚ the company featured a bright red heart as its first logo. In the 1970s‚ flight attendants in red-orange hot pants served Love Bites (peanuts) and Love Potions (drinks). With little money for advertising in the early days‚ Southwest relied on its outrageous antics to generate word-of-mouth advertising. Later ads showcased
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Southwest Airlines Fuel Hedging and Relations to Profitability Abstract In order to stay airborne‚ a passenger airline has to consistently generate profits. Profits come only from paying passengers‚ hence all stratagems must be customer oriented. In a scenario where there are many airlines competing with each other‚ one way of attracting passengers is to keep the cost of flying low‚ while providing value for money. On the other hand‚ expenses must tightly controlled to reach and stay at the
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Southwest Airlines provides short haul‚ high frequency‚ point-to-point‚ low-fare services to and from 58 cities across the United States. The company is known for its low-cost fares and superior customer service in the airline industry. The company was started in 1971 with a motto still lived by today‚ "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
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The airline industry is a tough place to make money because of its price sensitive customers‚ too many competitors‚ high capital intensity and boom-or-bust cyclicality. Even though with all these factors‚ Herb Kelleher‚ the cofounder and chairman of Southwest Airlines‚ created the sort of value that any company leader would envy. Herb Kelleher embraced servant-leadership as his style. Servant-leaders put their people above themselves‚ care about their employees‚ humble and empower their people. These
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Executive Summary Southwest Airlines is one of the most profitable airlines in the airline industry. During turbulent economic times Southwest has managed to continue strong revenue growth in a disastrous environment and has operated profitably for 39 consecutive years (Mintzmyer‚ 2012). Southwest Airlines has capitalized on the company’s strength of being the top low cost carrier by offering a simple and efficient business plan that prides itself on customer service. Southwest utilizes only the
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Southwest Airlines Executive Summary “The U.S. airline industry had lost money in 14 of the 28 years from 1980 through 2007‚ with combined annual losses exceeding combined annual profits by $15 billion. Yet in July 2008‚ Southwest reported record quarterly revenues‚ its 69th consecutive quarter of profitability‚ rising passenger traffic on its flights‚ and a record load factor.”5 With a brilliant strategy of ‘low cost/low fare/no frills’ Rollin King‚ along with Herb Kelleher‚ launched the
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Southwest Airlines Strategic Practices Marion L. Boston MGT 450 Strategic Planning for Organizations Instructor: Mark Bojeun April 4‚ 2011 Introduction Southwest Airlines’ company strategy consists of competitive moves and business approaches management has developed to attract and please customers‚ conduct operations‚ grow the business‚ and achieve performance objectives (J. Gamble & A. Thompson. 2009. p. 2). In writing to inform the management team of the discussion‚ we will discuss
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