Gary Kelly: SWA Pilots will not fly International

[Sedona16]

Gary Kelly: SWA Pilots will not fly International Anytime Soon...

[FONT=ARIAL,]Aviation Week interviewed Gary Kelly, SWA CEO. They report that SWA will not add routes to any international location, including Canada or Mexico. At best, they would consider a code share arrangement for international destinations. Furthermore, no aircraft (i.e. RJs) other than 737s will be in SWA's fleet for the foreseeable future.[/FONT]

 

[GFunk20]

All the more reason to be excited to work there.

 

[Whine Lover]

Senor Sedona,

I notice this is not a direct quote. Is this a paraphrase by you?

What Issue and/or Date of AWST is this published in?

I am an avid reader of that publication and must have missed that blurb on my last trip to the library.

Thanks,

YKW

 

[Sedona16]

Senor Sedona,

I notice this is not a direct quote. Is this a paraphrase by you?

What Issue and/or Date of AWST is this published in?

I am an avid reader of that publication and must have missed that blurb on my last trip to the library.

Thanks,

YKW

Well that was quoting someone who read it. I guess to buoy up what was said there here is a recent quote from a SWA employee about what Kelly said:

"At our message to the field in Orlando, Gary stated that they wouldn't be adding international service any time soon but would be looking for an airline to codeshare with to try routes out and see how the numbers look. After 5 or so years of that, then they might consider flying their own birds on those routes. But it would be awhile before that happened. Most of the service would be Carribean and Mexico. Didn't really mention Canada very much. Probably get more pax going south then into Canada."

There is more evidence of this notion other places as well with what is happening at ATA.

 

[Whine Lover]

Roger dat.

Thank you.

YKW

 

[StopNTSing]

The March 17 issue, page 14:

"But Kelly doesn't foresee any radical changes to Southwest's proven business model. While the carrier hopes to sign up international code-sharing partners as a way to boost revenues, he says Southwest has no plans to serve cross-border routes itself, even to Canada or Mexico. And he sees no reason to move beyond an all-737 fleet."

Nothing really new here....been the same official line from mgmt for years. I'm sure it will remain the strategy right up until it isn't anymore.

 

[LearLove]

stick to your core bizz - keep it simple - treat customers "well" - be good to your employees

why can't my airline/union get this thru their thick heads.