More SWA flights @ MDW '05

[chase]

Southwest Airlines Adds Flights in Chicago; Carrier Adds New Flights From Chicago Midway
Thursday November 18, 11:00 am ET

DALLAS, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV - News) is once again boosting its service at Chicago Midway. With the delivery of five additional Boeing 737s in the first half of 2005, the carrier is adding five new flights (two brand new nonstop cities and three flights to existing nonstop cities) in its rapidly growing Chicago operation beginning March 17, 2005. To take advantage of this new Southwest service and great low fares, visit: http://www.southwest.com/jp/luvhome.shtml?src=PR_MDW_111804

"We planned to grow rapidly at Chicago Midway, and that is exactly what we are doing," said Gary Kelly, Southwest's Chief Executive Officer. "Southwest sees impressive room for growth at Midway, and we will continue to fulfill the high demand for low fares in Chicago." Beginning March 17, 2005: * One new daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Norfolk, Va. * One new daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Salt Lake City. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Orlando (for a total of seven daily nonstop departures). * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Phoenix (for a total of six daily nonstop departures). * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Baltimore/Washington (for a total of nine daily nonstop departures). Additional Nonstop Chicago Midway Service (Previously Announced): * Two additional daily nonstop roundtrip flights between Chicago Midway and Orlando (for a total of six daily) starting January 16 and February 4, 2005. * Two additional daily nonstop roundtrip flights between Chicago Midway and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood (for a total of five daily) starting January 16 and February 4, 2005. * Two additional daily nonstop roundtrip flights between Chicago Midway and Manchester (for a total of four daily) starting January 16 and February 4, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Las Vegas (for a total of 10 daily) starting February 4, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Raleigh-Durham (for a total of four daily) starting February 4, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Tampa Bay (for a total of six daily) starting February 11, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Los Angeles International (for a total of six daily) starting March 4, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Oakland (for a total of six daily) starting March 4, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Phoenix (goes from four to five daily nonstop departures) starting March 4, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Seattle (for a total of three daily) starting March 4, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Providence (for a total of four daily) starting March 4, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Philadelphia (for a total of five daily) starting March 4, 2005. * One additional daily nonstop roundtrip flight between Chicago Midway and Columbus (for a total of seven daily) starting March 4, 2005.

 

[FlyingCricket]

Sounds like a rather aggressive and preemptive move against either AirTran (most likely) or America West. Appears SWA may be a bit worried. Isn't this the same kind of thing SWA itself had to fight against when it started out in the early '70's? Roles certainly have been reversed.

 

[walden]

The roles may be reversed, but the lead actor in this play seems a bit more logical about how they prepared for their performance.
SWA's track record alone indicates to me that they do not kneejerk into a bad move simply to preempt a competitor.
JM2C.

 

[FlyingCricket]

Not saying that it is a bad move for SWA. It probably is a good move. My only point is that SWA prides itself on it's culture. A key component of their culture up to this point in SWA's history has been the notion that they operate in a sort of underdog capacity. The implication in much of SWA's lore is that the fight for survival against giant, powerful competitors inspired employees to perform at the next level. Until very recently, SWA has been the little guy. It would be difficult to make the case today that SWA is an underdog or that the survival of the company is immediately threatened in any way. How this will end up affecting the culture at SWA I do not know. It's just something to consider.

 

[canyonblue]

Motley Fool
AirTran's Chicago Move
Thursday November 18, 12:59 pm ET
By Brian Gorman

AirTran Holdings is spreading its wings in the Windy City, although heady competition and stubbornly high fuel prices may make the expansion more painful than profitable, at least through 2005.

As ATA Holdings entered bankruptcy, AirTran swooped in and inked a $90 million agreement to take over the troubled company's operations at Chicago's Midway airport. The deal includes arrival and departure slots at New York's LaGuardia Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., according to The Associated Press.

In moving into Midway, the carrier appears to have raised the hackles of discount airline granddaddy Southwest Airlines. Even as AirTran closed in on the new gates, Southwest disclosed that it would step up operations at the Chicago airport. For its part, AirTran remained sanguine about the competition and expressed confidence that its lean operating model would allow it to achieve profitability at Midway.

While AirTran does enjoy favorable lease terms on its aircraft and boasts a young fleet of Boeing planes, it appears vulnerable with respect to oil prices. According to its most recent quarterly filing, AirTran has contracts for just 13.2% of its fuel needs in 2005, and those arrangements limit its average fuel price to $1.07 per gallon, or the equivalent of nearly $45 per barrel. Southwest, meanwhile, is in the enviable position of having locked in 80% of its fuel costs for 2005 at $25 a barrel. With the Department of Energy projecting that oil prices will average $47 per barrel in 2005, AirTran looks to be flying into some significant headwinds. Southwest no doubt will capitalize on this situation. In the near term at least, AirTran may find that Chicago isn't its kind of town.

 

[chase]

Flying Cricket.

You are correct in your SWA history. SWA has used the motivation/psychology of "underdog" to motivate the troops....it has worked well in the past. Another way to read that & what I believe is also occurring within the company is the realization as you said that Southwest is becoming a major player within the airline business. With that rise can inevitably lead to is overconfidence, arrogance or lack of focus on what our primary purpose is...providing POS to our customers. To continue doing that one must hire the right folks. The key to our future success lies within the hands of the various PD teams that are hiring people right now...keep up the good work!!!

Persons who have a service minded attitude, are interested more in helping others & less about "what is in it for me" & applying the simple Golden Rule have been the benchmark for SWA. Airlines that have risen to the top have become their own worse enemies in my opinion so the challenge or the mission for the leadership of Southwest is to remind everyone of recent history and for us to not walk down that same path. Southwest has & will continue to have many competitors, if we don't believe that we are doomed. New LCCs have & will continue to pop up all around as more airplanes & the cost of labor is reduced as the airline industry continues to have this paradigm shift. Let fuel prices drop much further for an extended period of time & they will be popping up like weeds in the spring (not intended to imply competitors are bad...we like competition...how about you guys over at DFW...Wright Amendment etc.)

The leadership is taking the approach the new "threat" to our survival is failing to learn from the past mistakes of others and to re-dedicate ourselves to lowering costs. The only way we can continue to have the financial success we have enjoyed in the past is to keep our costs low by shaving costs wherever we can; technology, fuel savings, increased revenue in other than pax flying, increased productivity by all employee groups, etc. Yes it is easy when one is the underdog but when one is leading the pack one must be always be leary of the folks chasing you also...stumble & the market forces will eat you alive (unless you go into bankruptcy & then it is very convoluted) won't care that we've been successful in the past...we'll look like other legacy carriers.

As to your original comment Flying Cricket, what better way to increase productivity than to have more flights out of MDW...if we can have 145 flights a day out of MDW & employ the exact same number of folks on the ground & generate 150 flights a day or 160 or 170 a day....productivity has increased the revenue on those flights....that is the challenge. Growing oneself into greater profitability only happens if productivity increases or if you wish to charge more for your seats...we'd prefer the former over the latter. I'm sure our customers would too!!!

I hope & pray our culture continues to evolve & remain strong....I'm confident it will if we continue to focus on the basics.....fly safely, get our passengers there at the lowest cost, on time & with their luggage....we've found our pax to be rather loyal to this matra & as along as we continue to meet their expectations I think we'll be around for a few more years. Thanks for your post FC...we'll see what the future holds.