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Q & A Why other airlines can't compete with Southwest By Rob Potochnik September 26, 2005 Airline pilot and Vyuz aviation expert Rob Potochnik had some time between layovers and created a Q & A about the airline industry. Q. Why don’t all airlines imitate Southwest’s route structure and strategy? After all, Southwest hasn’t lost money in over twenty years. A. A loaded question but here is the real answer. Southwest is a domestic carrier. Most top ten airlines fly both international and domestic routes and need several types of aircraft, depending on the length of the route. You can’t fly a 737 from Salt Lake City to Narita, Japan unless you want to swim the last few hours. The bird doesn’t carry enough petrol. More aircraft types mean more maintenance & training programs for pilots and mechanics, thus increasing costs on airlines. Q. Why don’t mainline carriers imitate Southwest’s domestic structure so they make money domestically? A. Good question but here is a semi-generic answer. Southwest started with the 737 aircraft, and continues to use the 737, which has been improved over the years. So, Southwest has been able to keep the same type rating, maintenance & training programs to a minimum. Legacy carriers, due to their fifty-plus years in existence, did not have this option. They leased the aircraft that fit their route structure. If they flew from LA to NYC they needed a larger plane than if they flew from Minneapolis to Fargo N. D. After all, if you owned a trucking company would you want to have just one truck, say a 32 foot tractor trailer, that you would drive half empty to smaller cities and full to larger cities? If you did that, you would loose money in the smaller cities and make money in larger cities. However, if you had a big truck and a small truck you could make money in both. Q. Now that airlines have a choice of aircraft why don’t they change aircraft to one type (737)? A. Most legacy carriers have long-term leases on aircraft so they can’t trade their existing aircraft for the 737. Even if they could, Boeing couldn’t produce enough for everyone in a timely manner. Q. Are all airlines created equal? After all, if three airlines travel from A to B why don’t they charge the same price to compete? A. As stated in a question above, airline structure dictates cost analysis, thus price per seat. However, the real answer is this: Company Z wants the best employees to fly their aircraft so they choose the best, company G wants any trained employee to fly their aircraft so they choose the cheapest employee. Who would you trust your life to at 35,000 feet, company Z or G? Company Z’s employees cost more, but bring safety to each flight. Price should not be your sole determining factor. Safety should be. Rob Potochnik is a pilot for that airline that lost your luggage. If you have any questions about aviation or the airline industry, e-mail Rob at aviation@vyuz.com. He’ll try to provide honest answers to difficult questions, or at least pretend the questions were difficult.
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