LuvJockey

Easy now - those will be HONEY ROASTED Brazil nuts.

There will be plenty of room on the 777 for both Brazil nuts AND Oreo cookies.

flynwmn

How about that special waiver from the Canadian ministry of justice.

Wasatch Phantom

This isn't meant to be flamebait, but one reason for SWA's success over the years is they have stuck religiously to their gameplan. They haven't waivered from that.

Part of that plan is simplicity, in terms of one aircraft model, that can meet FAA flight attendant staffing requirements with three FA's. It gives them great flexibility when dealing with IROPS and scheduling issues.

If indeed they do decide to fly transoceanic flights I think it complicates things significantly for them.

Flying internationally, and transoceanic as well, are significant departures from their norm.

alfaromeo

SWA management has been quite open that they will not be able to continue on the same path the got them where they are. Part of their advantage was the high growth rate which kept costs lower. They also ran for a long time on stock options with tremendous upside that allowed their workforce to be one of the lowest paid in the industry.

That model is done. They have tapped out most of the easy markets and now they are having to claw their way into bigger markets like LGA, DEN, MSP, and others. This also breaks their model of quick turns with high aircraft utilization. It doesn't matter how fast you taxi when you are number 32 at LGA.

SWA management has said that their next path is towards increasing revenue. They have to coax more of the high fare passengers away from the Delta/AMR/etc. crowd. International may be one element of that. Again, they will see their costs rise accordingly and will morph into a closer version of a legacy carrier. Who knows, maybe soon they will start charging for checked bags, I think it is only a matter of time.

This is not flame bait either, but just my opinion based on listening to SWA management's own words. I would always hesitate to count SWA out of anything because they are well managed right now and they have an excellent balance sheet. The strain of the current model is showing now and they will have to adapt.

iPilot

I'm just going throw this out there,



perhaps Southwest has jumped the shark.



There I said it, now I'm going to leave the room before I get beat up.

⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

A few years ago the CEO of Europe's SWA equivalent - Ryanair was talking about launching transatlantic flights... Is it possible the two airlines will co operate on this?


New York to London for $12? Ryanair to launch budget transatlantic airline
Last Updated: Friday, April 13, 2007 | 2:23 PM ET
CBC News

JeremiahWeed

Ahh, good times!

Joker

jet320

Southwest sticking close to home for now

Southwest Airlines yesterday moved to clarify its international future, stressing that it "does not have any plans to fly distant, long-haul international flights at this time or in the near future."

At this week's World Route Development Forum in Beijing, Director-Network Strategic Planning Lee Lipton told ATWOnline that the long-haul, low-cost model employed by airlines such as AirAsia X "could become a trend" among LCCs in the future and that Southwest was "evaluating our options" in that regard (ATWOnline, Sept. 16).

Yesterday the airline confirmed that any such venture likely is a long way off. "Our immediate focus is on developing our previously announced codeshare partnerships with WestJet and Volaris, and we have expressed interest in exploring near international markets, including Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, with our own fleet," a spokesperson told this website. "While we can't rule out the possibility in the future, we are not actively considering service to distant international markets with our own aircraft."

Three months ago, SWA said its partnership with WestJet will be delayed until late 2010 as it focuses on "near-term revenue opportunities" (ATWOnline, June 15).

In remarks prepared for delivery in Beijing, Lipton wrote that SWA and other LCCs "have only just started to make our mark on world travel" and that the nascent trend "has been confined to individual regions." He predicted that "the time is approaching when those regions will be connected by low-cost carriers providing long-haul services, complemented by airline partnerships that extend the geography of individual carriers beyond their home markets."

He wrote that as the industry evolves, LCCs will be "changing their ways or developing outside the traditional view of what a low-cost carrier should look like." He said that rather than "a sign that the low-cost carrier model has run its course," a move toward "extending the geographic reach and expanding diversity of our business model is really a sign of strength."


by Brian Straus
ATW Daily News

captjns

With Open Skies... probably not... but anything is possible.

OscartheGrouch

LB,

A sense of humor is allowed when it isn't coming from an obvious SWA hater who probably blames the LUV machine for all of their career problems. Or at the very least for their problem with being bitter. Please reference any posts you have made with positive (and I mean truly postive) remarks about SWA and I will take back the "SWA hater" remark. Besides that ...................Oh never mind!

The Oscar