What’s next for southwest ?
05-18-2022, 10:45 AM
#21
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2008
Posts: 608
What's next for Southwest? The industry is so volatile right now, it's hard to predict where everything goes in the months and years ahead. The following list isn't comprehensive, but just to paint a picture of everything going on:
So to guess what's next for Southwest...
- SWA has over $13 billion cash on hand with around ~$4 billion net cash, but with continuing rising interest rates.
- MAX 7 certification timeline keeps getting pushed with Congressional + FAA pressure on Boeing to fix certification issues (737 & 787), modernize the 737 with EICAS, etc.
- Headwinds with rising fuel prices (albeit they are hedged for this year...) and delays from MAX deliveries (i.e. geared turbofan fuel savings)
- Additional scrutiny from recently legal filings after Southwest allegedly tried to deceive the FAA about MAX certification issues
- Labor shortages are impacting all sorts of areas of airline operations, SWA not being exempt
- Difficulty attracting talent at SWA with every airline actively recruiting juxtaposed with with long upgrades, an outdated single fleet type, and better career earning potential at the Big 3 + FDX/UPS
- SWA has an outdated contract -- language, STD/LTD, pay rates, retirement, etc.
- The pool of qualified pilots to recruit from on all levels is getting smaller and smaller every month for every carrier, and every carrier is trying to hire 1,200-2,000+ pilots a year for the foreseeable future
- The economy is looking more and more unstable as markets are in decline, inflation is climbing, supply chain issues compound, and geopolitical tensions are elevated
- Business travel recovery is still lagging from COVID/work-from-home
- International travel is still lagging from COVID restrictions
- Frontier & JetBlue duking it out for Spirit; a new, larger carrier (especially if B6+NK match up) make more of a formidable competitor and, if B6 prevails, a very nice product
- United & Delta are aggressively bringing flying in house and making moves to expand market share; meanwhile AA is highly leveraged, making huge bets on continued profitability, despite increasing costs from inflation and higher interest rates
- Almost every major airline is in Section 6 negotiations with management teams almost everywhere waiting for some company to make the first move to close a deal in an environment where many places need a 30%+ pay increase to keep up with inflation from their last ratified contract
- Regional airline feeds are on a trajectory of total collapse unless hiring slows down to a major economic shock
- Legislation potentially increasing the age limit to 67 years old for 121 flying is potentially getting introduced
So to guess what's next for Southwest...
05-18-2022, 11:04 AM
#22
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2013
Posts: 3,670
Bob's background is computer science. He was actually a programmer at HP before joining Southwest. So he knows what probably needs to be done but the question is how much he is willing to pay for it. SWA, just like the rest of the legacies has to constantly refresh the fleet, which cost's billion's. I guess it's about priorities. We'll see.
The interesting thing about assigned seating is it normally takes longer to board BUT the turn times have increased a lot of the years because of the larger aircraft. The secret sauce at SWA is bags fly free. Any of us commute on other carriers watch the craziness of boarding with bags and it's almost comical. Almost the last two groups that board are required to check the bags. By the way, the last time SWA did a study on assign seating( I think it was out SAN) Bob Jordan was in charge of it.
Middle management just like any other large corporation is IMO the real problem here. Mr Jordan is going to have to break through that if he want's to deeply change this place. This is not Herb's airline. Gary Kelly was definitely a typical fortune 500 CEO who let his people run the asylum. Gary Kelly was deeply about ROI and strong earnings which is not bad. Hopefully Jordan looks a little deeper on how this is place is run and how to do a better job not only for the customer but also for the employee's.
The interesting thing about assigned seating is it normally takes longer to board BUT the turn times have increased a lot of the years because of the larger aircraft. The secret sauce at SWA is bags fly free. Any of us commute on other carriers watch the craziness of boarding with bags and it's almost comical. Almost the last two groups that board are required to check the bags. By the way, the last time SWA did a study on assign seating( I think it was out SAN) Bob Jordan was in charge of it.
Middle management just like any other large corporation is IMO the real problem here. Mr Jordan is going to have to break through that if he want's to deeply change this place. This is not Herb's airline. Gary Kelly was definitely a typical fortune 500 CEO who let his people run the asylum. Gary Kelly was deeply about ROI and strong earnings which is not bad. Hopefully Jordan looks a little deeper on how this is place is run and how to do a better job not only for the customer but also for the employee's.
BoJo is in it for the long game. Gary was an accountant and had a long term strategic plan to make this place into an investment bank that mints cash for a very few people. I would say he succeeded greatly.
Jordan knows he was left with a crap operation and has a lot of problems that need to be solved. I personally think he will be successful as well, but it will take a few years. He knows he needs to get labor on his side and clean up our horrendous IT situation.
I am cautiously optimistic. We have hit rock bottom. I am a pragmatic pessimist and I never thought I would see the absolute apathy and terrible customer service that I have seen over the last two years. He is doing and saying the right things to turn the corner and to reverse the damage that GK has done by making this place into a Bank that flies airplanes. The next year will be very telling.
05-18-2022, 11:49 AM
#23
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2016
Position: Left
Posts: 1,260
BoJo is in it for the long game. Gary was an accountant and had a long term strategic plan to make this place into an investment bank that mints cash for a very few people. I would say he succeeded greatly.
Jordan knows he was left with a crap operation and has a lot of problems that need to be solved. I personally think he will be successful as well, but it will take a few years. He knows he needs to get labor on his side and clean up our horrendous IT situation.
I am cautiously optimistic. We have hit rock bottom. I am a pragmatic pessimist and I never thought I would see the absolute apathy and terrible customer service that I have seen over the last two years. He is doing and saying the right things to turn the corner and to reverse the damage that GK has done by making this place into a Bank that flies airplanes. The next year will be very telling.
Jordan knows he was left with a crap operation and has a lot of problems that need to be solved. I personally think he will be successful as well, but it will take a few years. He knows he needs to get labor on his side and clean up our horrendous IT situation.
I am cautiously optimistic. We have hit rock bottom. I am a pragmatic pessimist and I never thought I would see the absolute apathy and terrible customer service that I have seen over the last two years. He is doing and saying the right things to turn the corner and to reverse the damage that GK has done by making this place into a Bank that flies airplanes. The next year will be very telling.
I hope you are correct , but I doubt it .
05-18-2022, 12:34 PM
#24
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2012
Position: 737 CA
Posts: 508
What’s next for southwest ?
BoJo is in it for the long game. Gary was an accountant and had a long term strategic plan to make this place into an investment bank that mints cash for a very few people. I would say he succeeded greatly.
Jordan knows he was left with a crap operation and has a lot of problems that need to be solved. I personally think he will be successful as well, but it will take a few years. He knows he needs to get labor on his side and clean up our horrendous IT situation.
I am cautiously optimistic. We have hit rock bottom. I am a pragmatic pessimist and I never thought I would see the absolute apathy and terrible customer service that I have seen over the last two years. He is doing and saying the right things to turn the corner and to reverse the damage that GK has done by making this place into a Bank that flies airplanes. The next year will be very telling.
Jordan knows he was left with a crap operation and has a lot of problems that need to be solved. I personally think he will be successful as well, but it will take a few years. He knows he needs to get labor on his side and clean up our horrendous IT situation.
I am cautiously optimistic. We have hit rock bottom. I am a pragmatic pessimist and I never thought I would see the absolute apathy and terrible customer service that I have seen over the last two years. He is doing and saying the right things to turn the corner and to reverse the damage that GK has done by making this place into a Bank that flies airplanes. The next year will be very telling.
I tend to agree. I’m cautiously optimistic as well. BoJo definitely comes across as the “little less words a little more action” type. I’ve flown with several pilots that have had random encounters with him out on the line (that alone is impressive) and had the opportunity to speak to him directly. They all spoke favorably to his demeanor and willingness to listen and truly comprehend the ailments of what has become of our daily operation. Time will tell, it’ll definitely take some time for said actions to manifest into noticeable improvements on the line, but all we can do is hope.
Btw, I’d like to see a little more action in contract negotiations in case you’re reading Mr Jordan.
05-18-2022, 07:40 PM
#25
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2006
Position: FOD
Posts: 536
As I've heard from guys in the recovery society, "You'd be surprised how much give in the floor there is to that rock bottom you find yourself at."
05-19-2022, 05:47 AM
#26
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2013
Position: 737CA
Posts: 198
BoJo is in it for the long game. Gary was an accountant and had a long term strategic plan to make this place into an investment bank that mints cash for a very few people. I would say he succeeded greatly.
Jordan knows he was left with a crap operation and has a lot of problems that need to be solved. I personally think he will be successful as well, but it will take a few years. He knows he needs to get labor on his side and clean up our horrendous IT situation.
I am cautiously optimistic. We have hit rock bottom. I am a pragmatic pessimist and I never thought I would see the absolute apathy and terrible customer service that I have seen over the last two years. He is doing and saying the right things to turn the corner and to reverse the damage that GK has done by making this place into a Bank that flies airplanes. The next year will be very telling.
Jordan knows he was left with a crap operation and has a lot of problems that need to be solved. I personally think he will be successful as well, but it will take a few years. He knows he needs to get labor on his side and clean up our horrendous IT situation.
I am cautiously optimistic. We have hit rock bottom. I am a pragmatic pessimist and I never thought I would see the absolute apathy and terrible customer service that I have seen over the last two years. He is doing and saying the right things to turn the corner and to reverse the damage that GK has done by making this place into a Bank that flies airplanes. The next year will be very telling.
Obviously staffing, CBA's for all employees and IT infrastructure(back end stuff) needs to be done. They have spent a lot of money on the reservation system, ops suite, mx system, mobile but need to upgrade a lot of back end like CWA, dispatch systems. Way better products out there to help move this company forward.
05-24-2022, 06:16 AM
#28
Gets Weekend Reserve
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,776
"We've renamed Bullet Points to "Bob's Briefing." When we chose the name originally, it was a nod to punctuation - a bulleted list -meant to imply a quick-hit type of message. I recognize that the word "bullet" can also be equated with violence, and since that was never my intent, we're just renaming this to avoid any confusion there."
-Bob Jordan
Speechless...
-Bob Jordan
Speechless...
05-24-2022, 06:19 AM
#29
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2009
Posts: 612
"We've renamed Bullet Points to "Bob's Briefing." When we chose the name originally, it was a nod to punctuation - a bulleted list -meant to imply a quick-hit type of message. I recognize that the word "bullet" can also be equated with violence, and since that was never my intent, we're just renaming this to avoid any confusion there."
-Bob Jordan
Speechless...
-Bob Jordan
Speechless...
Ok, Bob... I'm pretty agnostic about everything but the ratification of a new contract. I'm only at work for the money.
Remove the impediment (the former SWAPA benedict arnold) and get after signing a contract with sincerity.
Other than that, it's all just words.
Acta Non Verba
05-24-2022, 06:29 AM
#30
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2017
Position: 737 FO
Posts: 989
"We've renamed Bullet Points to "Bob's Briefing." When we chose the name originally, it was a nod to punctuation - a bulleted list -meant to imply a quick-hit type of message. I recognize that the word "bullet" can also be equated with violence, and since that was never my intent, we're just renaming this to avoid any confusion there."
-Bob Jordan
Speechless...
-Bob Jordan
Speechless...
it’s good to see the c suite is laser focused on what matters.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
