Ever since their scheduling debacle, we’ve been checking on Southwest Airlines from time to time. We are always interested in seeing what’s happening with the airline with regard to its operations and how it’s working to extricate itself from its scheduling stumble.
Recently we have seen updates from the Airline. While in themselves not as significant as the scheduling challenges they faced three months ago, they can provide some important insights into how Southwest has been coping.
In this week’s Digest we would like to share some articles and stories about what Southwest Airlines has been up to three months since its scheduling mishap. Giving our subscribers a glimpse into what has been happening with the company since then.
For further reading on Southwest Airlines see: ‘Southwest Airlines: Fallen From Grace?’, ‘Southwest Airlines: Symptoms of a Much Larger Problem?’, and Southwest Airlines: How Have You Been?’
Southwest Airlines Celebrates 25 Years Of Mentoring Between Pilots And Students Through Its Signature Adopt-A-Pilot Program
DALLAS, April 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) today celebrated 25 years of its bridge-building Adopt-A-Pilot® Program by unveiling an aircraft adorned with a nose decal and fuselage artwork dedicated to nearly 14,000 Pilots and half-million students that participated in the award-winning Program. In a quarter century, Adopt-A-Pilot has impacted the lives of more than 556,000 fifth-grade students in classrooms across the country. The aircraft, unveiled at a celebration at the Southwest Airlines® Maintenance Hangar in Dallas, brought together fifth-grade students enrolled at a local elementary school who have “adopted” a Pilot, along with current and past participants of the Adopt-A-Pilot Program.
By Southwest Airlines Investor Relations
Southwest Airlines Wants to Give Extra Perks (Here’s How)
Southwest Airlines faces problems on two fronts. It’s battling public perception after its holiday meltdown caused even its biggest fans to question their loyalty to the airline and it looks at having to battle a strengthened JetBlue (JBLU) – Get Free Report Airlines should it be able to complete its merger with Spirit Airlines (SAVE). A combined JetBlue/Spirit represents a big challenge because that merged airline will operate more like JetBlue than Southwest (LUV). Instead of using an extreme value model, the company will be a discount airline that uses a very similar pricing strategy to the one Southwest uses.
By Daniel Kline | The Street
Southwest Airlines Has a Growth Plan (You May Not Like It)
You probably shouldn’t add on to your house if it has a crumbling foundation. When you do that, you might get away with it for a while but eventually, the entire thing will come crashing down. That’s essentially what happened when Southwest Airlines (LUV) suffered its holiday meltdown. The airline kept getting bigger but it was building upon a technology that was not ready to handle a bunch of things going wrong at once. Basically, it was a literal perfect storm where bad weather hit and Southwest’s software was unable to keep up with the changes. That paralyzed its fleet leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded and quickly undermining the goodwill the airline had built up over decades.
By Daniel Kline | The Street
Southwest Airlines Earns Dubious Honor (and You Should Be Worried)
Air travel has never been something that many people — at least those not flying in first or business class — particularly enjoy. At best, you’re crammed into a tiny, uncomfortable seat that ultimately does its job. At worst, your flight gets canceled, takes off late, or runs into some other problem. Everyone has at least heard of, if not experienced, flights being stuck on the tarmac with passengers trapped in their seats. Even when flying goes pretty well, it’s still fairly unpleasant. That actually sets a low bar for airlines. Passengers expect a certain level of misery, so pushing them to their breaking point actually takes a lot of work.
By Daniel Kline | The Street
Note: The views and opinions expressed in the content shared in this digest are for informational purposes only, are solely those of the original content creators, and do not constitute an endorsement by or necessarily represent the views of On Aviation™ or its affiliates.
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