Southwest Airlines is globalizing their company in order to reach a bigger market, and become competition for other companies. Southwest Airlines has already conquered the domestic market beating American Airlines, United, and Delta according to Fortune. Access to a new market is what motivated Southwest to globalize, they are expanding to the south of North America, with their new assets found in their acquired airline AirTran Airways (LeBeau, 4) . Southwest Airlines has brought low rates and a great experience to the domestic market, which was warmly received, they now plan to dip into global market to bring better service to all.
Southwest Airlines has recently acquired AirTran Airways, which was a global company, this acquisition it put Southwest in a great spot to expand to the global market. Southwest is integrating the AirTran Airways international stops in Aruba, Jamaica, the Bahamas with their original domestic stops in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Orlando starting July 1st 2014 according to an article in US Today. Next they are looking to service 6 Latin American destinations including Belize City, Cancun, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and San Jose del Cabo/ Los Cabos starting in October 2015 (Zacks Equity Research, 1-2). These Latin American destinations are strategic because they are close to Southwest’s headquarters in Dallas TX, and they are prime vacation spots (Jones, 3). This will give more people a cheaper way to vacation, and bring more people into these
It would bring in more customers and the customers that have flown before will probably fly again. Employees love spending time on the airplane talking to the customers. Customers like employees who make them feel safe or a person who is fun to talk to. Capacity is another thing that will affect the company. Even though there are more people coming in, Southwest Airlines will have to have more plane to transport people. If they do not, things will fall down. Second, it is the time management; because if the company is slow, they would go to another airplane company. Some companies take forever to get their flyers abroad. They get all of their flyers abroad quicker than some others even though Southwest Airlines is a larger company. Southwest Airlines either avoid canceling people tickets besides the weather or they change tickets to another flight quicker. When people accidently put the wrong place, Southwest Airlines can change it quickly unlike some other
Southwest Airlines is a major US airline established in 1967 that services a multitude of cities in all 50 states and beyond. The company is known for its outstanding quality in providing services and it 's cost effective ticket prices to its many passengers throughout the nation. This airline is based in the southwestern United States, in the city of Dallas Texas, and due to the tremendous number of airplanes that it has and the timely service that it provides to its passengers, this airline services more US passengers than any other airline. This airline also has the largest fleet of planes of any economical or low-cost airline service in the world and employees more than 45,000.
Southwest Airlines Co., established in 1971 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher, began its operations with only three Boeing 737 aircrafts. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas(Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). Southwest is well known as one of the largest low-cost carriers. With this strategy, the company has dramatically grown up and deeply rooted in the US airline industry. Now, Southwest Airlines Co. operates 633 aircrafts to 93 domestic cities and the highest number of passengers used Southwest Airlines to fly around U.S in Jan 2014 (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). To accomplish more than 40th consecutive years of both profitability and competitiveness, Southwest Airlines Company is constantly trying to find the routes to differentiate itself from other domestic carriers (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012).
Southwest Airlines Co. began its operations in 1971 and has been serving the industry for the past 43 years now (Southwest Airlines, n.d.). It is the major domestic airline, and ranked number one in 2014 by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (United States Department of Transportation, 2014). Back in 1971 the airline began its services in Texas in the cities of Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. The company has been ranked as the nation's largest low cost carrier (Mergent, 2012). It offers the lowest fares, and has the lowest cost structure in the industry.
Currently, Southwest does not serve any destinations outside the United States, but it is planning to begin international services or ticket international flights in 2009 (Wikipedia, 2008). The company has established a code sharing partnership with just a single airline on the USA market – ATA Airlines, and the plans of international expansion were partially based on this partnership. However, in March 2008, ATA Airlines declared bankruptcy and filed for Chapter 11 protection after it lost a key military charter contract in the middle of skyrocketing fuel prices, leaving Southwest Airlines alone (Dance, 2008).
Southwest Airlines Co. is an airline company that offers air transportation services within the United States and in international markets. The company operates within the airline industry that is highly regulated, technology intensive, labor intensive, and highly competitive (Southwest Airlines, 2017). Southwest Airlines operates a service business whereby the company offers a point to point air transport service to its passengers. Other than passenger transport, the company offers transportation services for pets and unaccompanied minors. The flights offered include short haul and long haul between various destinations within the United States and internationally. In 2016, the company’s operating revenues from international operations amounted to $383 million. A unique feature of the Southwest Airlines is its cost structure whereby the company focuses on cost discipline and uses one aircraft type to minimize costs.
Southwest Airlines has effectively used a variety of promotional elements in its integrated marketing communications, making it one of America’s largest airlines with 3,300 flights a day to 72 domestic cities. Southwest Airlines has used all four possible elements of the promotion mix: advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion, but has focused primarily on advertising and public relations to add value to the product offered to customers. Its focus on advertising and public relations is directly related to its large size and it’s nationwide reach. Also, advertising and public relations are the
This case analysis is an overview of Southwest Airlines which will explore its history in brief and timeline. Southwest Airlines is currently a major airline in the United States domestic market, looking for growth and expansion opportunities. The focus of this paper is to review many aspects of strategic analysis that have an impact on Southwest Airlines; utilizing the SWOT, PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces and Business Model Strategies methods of analysis. Lastly a recommendation will be presented for the firm on for the problem statement of expansion.
Southwest Airlines uses market development, advertising, and integration strategies at the corporate level. For their market development strategy, they acquired slots in Long Beach, California, and flights resumed between the United States and Cuba. Southwest acted quickly to these opportunities and launched services to Long Beach Airport, Varadero, Cuba, Havana, Cuba; and Santa Clara, Cuba. Now, Southwest serves Long Beach with short-haul flights in California and Cuba from Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa. They also launched service from Los Angeles International Airport to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, and Los Cabos, Mexico. Additional routes and frequencies within their existing network rounded out the balance of their expansion in 2016.
Southwest airlines could also extend their flights to further destinations and also operate in huge cities because they are mainly focusing in operating in mid-sized cities and secondary airports. The acquisition of AirTran is also a huge opportunity because Southwest Airline can gain knowledge and also acquire some of their core competencies. Southwest Airlines could learn a lot from them and implemented to their company to be more successful and gain more market share.
Southwest Airlines Company (Southwest Airlines or ‘the Company’ SWA) is a passenger airline that provides scheduled passenger and freight transportation services. The Company primarily provides scheduled services throughout the US and near-international markets. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and employs 48,000 people and serves over one hundred million customers annually (“Southwest,” 2015). Southwest Airlines has accumulated over forty years of revenue and is one of the supremely flown airlines in the United States of America (Dess, et al, 2014, p. C137). Recognized for dominating the national or domestic airline market, Southwest Airlines’ diligence has built an
The recent merger and expansion Southwest Airlines (SWA) is experiencing challenges their human resource department’s hiring practices. The company has the potential to feel damaging effects due to their accelerated staffing needs; a consideration is how the screening for SWA employment is going to be handled with this influx of merging airline applicants. SWA needs to have a plan to streamline this collaborative staffing effort. The company must focus on the strategy and functionality of this expanded recruitment plan. As the CEO, Gary Kelly states, “Our people are our single greatest strength and most enduring long-term competitive advantage"(Southwest). In order to make mergers successful there are steps SWA-HR must implement to develop an addendum to their recruitment plan, identifying this merge specific applicant pool. Once SWA establishes a recruitment strategy that incorporates recruiting staff from these acquired airline companies, this plan is going to give them a great competitive advantage over their competition.
Technology is growing rapidly since the early 90’s and a lot has changed in the marketing sector on how businesses operate. The internet has made it possible for businesses to market their products and services through digital channels. According to Smallwood, (2016). “The way people connect, communicate, and share information online has evolved in ways unimaginable just a generation ago, yet from a marketer 's perspective the biggest change may be in the amount of information suddenly available.” Through digital media consumers are able to associate themselves with the products and services that are rendered. The three organizations I have seen advertised; that have specifically focused on digital media to market its products and or services are, Southwest Airline, John Foy & Associates, and the Coca-Cola Company.
A business mergers and company expansion can be a lengthy and costly process, but if there is a strategic plan that is in place this process can be done in a effectively and efficiently fashion. The definitive goal for the HR department is to be able to successfully employee all the employees of the merger, and place them inside new positions within our global locations. Fast growing companies need to cost-effective, flexible and adaptable in today’s global economy.
Economic turbulences can cause an airline business to deteriorate or even get closed. In case of financial crisis in the world, airlines are borne to losses like any other business. Economic cycles such as Boom, recession, depression and recovery can determine which business an airline is leading. Aviation industry contributes to the GDP of any country, so when a country is a boom state the airline is making more revenues and raising GDP. Airlines also face the biggest threat when an economic crisis occurs. One of the most apparent actions during an economic crisis is layoff of employees to reduce the airline’s labor costs. During any economic crisis the demand for air transport reduces causing airlines to lose millions