SWA & labor costs

[LAZYB]

SWA White Paper

 

[Falcon Jet 1]

Excellent Post. One thing is for sure is that employees per aircraft will continue to decline due to automation, and costs will continue decrease with productivity measures.

 

[chase]

Employee per aircraft

32847 employee as of 31 Dec '03, divided by 387 aircraft = 84.875969 employees per aircraft

USAir has approximately 96 folks per aircraft I believe (stats from the latest USA today headline, questionable source I know, doesn't include RJ airlines)

I believe United's numbers were around 127 employees per aircraft but if someone has other numbers pls post & provide the correct info.

Kelly said the other day he thought our employee count would be flat or lower by the end of the year than what it was at the beginning of the year. If we add all aicraft & total 419 by the end of '04 our ratio will be 78.393795 per airplane. Technology has been something SWA has been slow to accept in the past (mid-90's & earlier). While most IT departments were building up during this boom time (mid-90s), SWAs "Technology" department was barely 100 folks. It now stands at nearly 800 I've heard. Technology will continue to improve efficiency & cost benefit analysis for the company which will benefit all employees. If legacy carriers continue to lag in cost-cutting in terms of their costs in relations to ours, then as the author says things will remain bright. If other LCCs or anyone begins to match our efficiency, cost & product delivery then SWA will be faced with a challenge. But that challenge is everyday & thankfully our leadership seems to recognize it & continues to work it. cheers