S.W.A. to bring on Regional?

[Mtnjam]

Not starting a rumor hear, heard a rumor that S.W.A. was thinking of bringing on a Regional Carrier to fly EMB 170 or 190's.... Anyone hear anything like this before?

 

[turbinewhiner]

nope. Have you tried posting on the major's forum?

 

[FlamingFUPA]

They already have, but they are the new Stealth E170/190s.

 

[capt. megadeth]

They better not after they assisted in the demise of Chicago Express.

(and before anyone says the wonderful, do no wrong, kumbaja airline had "nothing" to do with it....don't bother, because I will never believe it)

 

[propjockey]

I would be astonished if it ever happened, since they are their own feeder, but for what it's worth, Jerry Atkin of SkyWest has been wooing Southwest for years pitching the idea of becoming a feeder for them. As with most things aviation, I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[ebaybob]

I've wondered if the Wright Amendment fight might drive Southwest to start a regional feed into the cities where American is threatening to leave. That would make the cities happy and might help get the Wright Amendment repealed. I have no info to think this will happen...just a thought.

 

[Bluto]

Jerry Atkin of SkyWest has been wooing Southwest for years pitching the idea of becoming a feeder for them. As with most things aviation, I'll believe it when I see it.

I agree with both of the statements above. Jerry has said in the past that he has spoken with just about every airline out there with respect to either feed or a purchase/merger, depending on the company. This could well be the source of the rumor. I doubt that SWA would contract with a regional though, since they could easily do it Jetblue style and fly the E-170/190's themselves. Though stranger things have happened.

 

[paid4training]

WHERE would they "feed" in the Point to point system? This would not make any sense because of the current "non hub" system they run. They have proven the Hub and spoke system old and expensive, why change things?

 

[halfmoon]

Rumour confirmed TRUE!!

e170's for southwest. Not sure of the exact details however, pilots will have to buy a type in the 170 in order to work there! sounds like pft to me!!

 

[atldc9]

The original Shuttle America, DHC-8's out of BDL was started by guys that did their business plan with Southwest. They spent 1 year down there in Dallas with the SWA mgmt types going over it. IN the end SWA said no thanks, and started moving further into the northeast, ie BUF, ALB, and ISP. The old Shuttle CEO really thought SWA was going to do it. Obviously, he was wrong.

 

[Snoopy58]

Back when JetBlue was looking at E-190's, SWA took a good hard look at using smaller jets as well. JB decided yes, and SWA apparently decided no. There are a world of reasons that the "no" decision makes excellent sense for SWA, and there have been absolutely zero rumors of any such thing happening during the past year or more.

If your goal is to dominate the known universe and eventually fly every passenger in the country on your airline, then yes you need smaller jets to feed your hubs, since otherwise the guy from Podunk can't get to London on your 777. HOWEVER, SWA isn't about being all things to all people (still doesn't fly pets, doesn't interline bags, doesn't take medical O2, etc etc etc), but has a simple model that works very well. There's a lot of complexity & risk involved in bringing a whole new aircraft type in to an operation like Southwest has, and while it might SOME DAY make sense, the sharp people who look at such things have apparently concluded that it doesn't make any sense any time soon. After all, SWA is putting the 737's to profitable use as quickly as they come off the assembly line, so they clearly aren't at a loss for places to make money with the current business model.

The only good argument that SWA is about to start using smaller jets to feed their, um, hubs (what hubs???), is that absolutely no one expects it. But, since SWA is in the habit of doing the unexpected... it MUST be right around the corner! But beyond that...