Description
This paper explain operations strategy southwest airlines.
1
MG 4700 – Project #1
Operations Strategy – Southwest Airlines
OVERVI EW
Southwest Airlines started in 1971 as a small regional airline with a service between three
largest Texas cities – Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. From those humble beginnings,
Southwest has followed its mission of “dedication to the highest quality of customer service
delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit”, and
became one of the largest and the only consistently profitable carrier in the U.S. Southwest’s
insists that they are in customer service business and just happens to be operating an
airline.
This mission is at the core of their long term strategy, as well as its day-to-day activities
of providing short-haul, low-cost, point-to-point service between midsize cities and
secondary airports in large cities. Southwest supports these activities using extremely cost-
efficient operating structure. Meals, assigned seating, baggage transfers, and first class are
not available on Southwest flights. What they do offer to its customers are low cost frequent
departures on a point-to-point basis, together with an entertaining experience while in the
air.
Southwest charges fares that are often just a fraction of those charged by major carriers,
and typically has dramatic effects on the new markets it decides to enter. Many short-haul
fares are expected to drop by at least half if Southwest’s decides to enter a new market.
Further, because Southwest’s low fares tend to attract people who might have driven to
these “
This paper explain operations strategy southwest airlines.
1
MG 4700 – Project #1
Operations Strategy – Southwest Airlines
OVERVI EW
Southwest Airlines started in 1971 as a small regional airline with a service between three
largest Texas cities – Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. From those humble beginnings,
Southwest has followed its mission of “dedication to the highest quality of customer service
delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit”, and
became one of the largest and the only consistently profitable carrier in the U.S. Southwest’s
insists that they are in customer service business and just happens to be operating an
airline.
This mission is at the core of their long term strategy, as well as its day-to-day activities
of providing short-haul, low-cost, point-to-point service between midsize cities and
secondary airports in large cities. Southwest supports these activities using extremely cost-
efficient operating structure. Meals, assigned seating, baggage transfers, and first class are
not available on Southwest flights. What they do offer to its customers are low cost frequent
departures on a point-to-point basis, together with an entertaining experience while in the
air.
Southwest charges fares that are often just a fraction of those charged by major carriers,
and typically has dramatic effects on the new markets it decides to enter. Many short-haul
fares are expected to drop by at least half if Southwest’s decides to enter a new market.
Further, because Southwest’s low fares tend to attract people who might have driven to
these “