Southwest to buy AirTran...

[texman]

I heard Asia,with a "whistle stop" in Anchorage.

Mmmmmmm. Poonnnnnnnn taannnng d nang

 

[johnsonrod]

Mmmmmmm. Poonnnnnnnn taannnng d nang

And another stop in Vladisvostok when the Winter headwinds come through! My buddy at Southern Air said it takes 7 hours to get from ANC to Seoul on a good day. You want to do it in a 737, with passengers on it? Sure.... Of course that would follow your current gameplan of multiple stops between points A and B, but just in several places nobody would want to go. And, SWA will need to start throwing ATC sushi parties in Japan right now to get some landing slots. I am sure they can be bribed just like our government over here.

 

[waveflyer]

It's not what southwest is, it's what it will be....

 

[johnsonrod]

It's not what southwest is, it's what it will be....

You mean PeoplesExpress? I have heard GK may be shopping around the idea of eventually dumping the 717s because they take away from their tried and tested strategy of a single fleet type. Having one fleet type is one major reason why Southwest has done well, just like Ryanair and Easyjet in Europe. Throw in new fleets and new international flying (requiring ETOPS and other rules) and that already profitable strategy will be tested.

 

[redflyer65]

Look at it this way. Southwest has the best domestic feed network in the country right now!

You add one wide body platform to the Southwest feed and it could be very interesting. Southwest just feeds their new international airline. Very simple and I'm sure being looked at in Dallas.

The growth with the above strategy would be off the chart.