Southwest Airlines Case Study

Southwest Airlines has a history of being aggressive during tough times. The primary factors that have contributed to their success are: their on-time percentage and fast turnaround times; non-adaptation to the hub system operation; maintaining a fleet of exclusively 737 aircraft; short flights (typically 60 to 90 minutes long); and the "what ever it takes" prevalent in the corporate culture. Pre 9/11, Southwest was very successful in maintaining these strengths to grow and profit. The post 9/11 strategy of Southwest …

…maintain focus on an all 737 fleet, uphold their point to point system, continue employee profit sharing plan, investments refinements to their own Internet booking systems and strongly continue developing their corporate culture in order to remain successful during these uncertain times for the airline industry. When the airline industry reestablishes itself back to where it was before 9/11, if Southwest can adopt and maintain this strategy it be positioned as a leader in the airline industry.