EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Southwest Airlines provides short haul, high frequency, point-to-point, low-fare services to and from 58 cities across the United States. The company is known for its low-cost fares and superior customer service in the airline industry. The company was started in 1971 with a motto still lived by today, "If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline." This motto has been effective for the company because they recently reported their 58th straight quarterly profit.

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis describes the internal strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and
The company announced a new "direct-link" to customers' computer desktops in February 2005 with a product called "DING!" which can be downloaded at southwest.com (Southwest 2005). The airline also offered many new nonstop flights during 2005.
Today, Southwest is the fourth largest major airline in America, flying more than 64 million passengers a year to 58 cities in the United States. It makes more than 2700 flights a day. Since 1988, Southwest has won the Triple Crown more than thirty times, including five consecutive years.
Internal Strengths and Weaknesses Southwest Airline's competitive advantage comes from being the low-cost leader in the low-fare airlines industry. Southwest provides short haul, high frequency, point-to-point, low-fare services. The major reason Southwest is able to be the low-cost leader in the airline industry is because they do not over-promise, and this has become one of their key strengths. Southwest does not assign seats, does not serve meals, and has no first-class section. For some customers these items are "customer service" items that they do not want to fly without. For many passengers, they just want what King and Kelleher set out to deliver, "to get where they are going, when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and have a good time doing it." Southwest's strength is that they do not create false expectations for