Southwest to buy AirTran...

[texman]

I would agree. If you look at places where we have only three flights a day, all to ATL, you have to ask, "What could the frequency be if we add connections to SWA cities? How many other point-to-point cities could we add? How many Business travelers would we add if we had more than three lousy flights a day?".

I'm thinking this deal looks smarter every day.

You want to know what is even smarter? A big little birdy told me widebody (777) ops out of ATL to SouthAmerica, and addtional 150 new hire this year on top of the 188.

 

[FlyinGuy]

I have figured out who you are! You are Julian Asange, the founder of Wikileaks! Good for you finally bringing out the truth to the public.

Are you serious??? You guys are acting like someone just spilled confidential info. Of course SWA has it's problems! No one ever said this place was perfect. No company could be perfect. Most pilots at SWA are proud of the place that we have helped build. There are problems, but there is not another airline out there like us. That is why we are nervous about this acquisition. Hopefully in the end this will all be settled and put together where we can grow and continue down the road of "profits".

 

[texman]

Are you serious??? You guys are acting like someone just spilled confidential info. Of course SWA has it's problems! No one ever said this place was perfect. No company could be perfect. Most pilots at SWA are proud of the place that we have helped build. There are problems, but there is not another airline out there like us. That is why we are nervous about this acquisition. Hopefully in the end this will all be settled and put together where we can grow and continue down the road of "profits".

Talking about profits, 5.7% in profit sharing wasn't to bad. 7k for the year baby.

 

[Bill Nelson]

Talking about profits, 5.7% in profit sharing wasn't to bad. 7k for the year baby.

Mine is a little over $10,400 in addition to the $16,500 that the company put in my 401K. When I add my $16,500 contribution to my 401K I put away $43,000 for the year in deferred compensation. Not bad.

 

[Ty Webb]

You want to know what is even smarter? A big little birdy told me widebody (777) ops out of ATL to SouthAmerica,

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

 

[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.