Operations Management At

Southwest Airlines

Presented By:
 Background
Ø In 1967,Rolling King and Herb Kelleher founded
Southwest an intrastate airlines.
Ø In 1982, “Just Say When” campaign
Ø In 1987,Frequent flier programme,no. of flights
taken.
Ø In 1992,Southwest won the annual Triple Crown
Award.
Ø In 1996,SW started selling through Website
www.southwest.com

Cont….
Ø In 2000,SW placed biggest aircraft order
ever,
Ø delivery of 94 Boeing737.
Ø In 2001,sept terrorist attacks,SW managed
to post a profit.
Ø In 2002,the worst year ever for the airlines
industry ,SW posted its 30th consecutive
profit.
Ø In 2003,SWAirlines was the 4th largest US
airlines in terms of domestic customers
carried.
Southwest’s Business Model
Providing safe
Reliable
Short duration air service
Lowest possible fair
Quality service
Point to Point
Blanketing stratgy
 Key operation parameters of
sw
§ Passenger Load factor-
 is the percentage of
 a plane filled with
paying
 passengers.
§ Revenue passenger
miles-
 One paying passenger
flown
 one line
§
Source:www.southwest.com
 Cont……
Ø Aircraft Utilization-in
hours and
minutes in a day a plane
 is used
 Contd…….
Ø In2002,Sluggish
 economy
Ø High energy prices
Ø Tension in Gulf spelled
 SW’s Top Ten Airport-Daily
Departure
 Southwest avoided
congested
airport.
 High employee
productivity.
 Reliable on time
performance.

 SW:Anatomy of a 15-minute
Turnaround

G ro u n d cre w ch a t a ro
8 :u0 n3 d: 3 g0 aGteropuonsi
d tio n w m o ve to 8th:04
cre e ircrew
ve h imoves 8:06gate
cle s towards :30 Baggage unloaded, refuelin

8:15 Jet way8:retracts

10 Boarding complete
8 : 0 8 B. oground
a rd in gcrew b a g g a g e lo a d in8g:,07
ca ll ,leaves re fuPassenger
e lin g co m p leoff
te plane

8:15:30 Pushback
8:18from backs
Pushback disengages plane leaves for runway
 How SW strategy is Implemented
No baggage transfers
No meals


 Limited Passenger service

No connection with other airlines

No site assignments

Short hual,point to point travel

Very low ticket prices

Passenger related departure
High aircraft utilizatin
Activities
Standardized fleet of 737 aircrafts
Southwest the low fare airlines
High level of employee stock ownership
Flexible union contracts
High compensation of employees
15-minute gate turnaround
Limited use travel agents
Looking Ahead
Increase more non stop flights
Enrich operation system
Include daily non stop flights in busy air
traffic route.

 Thanks

Any Questions