Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines has experienced outstanding results and growth since its inception in Texas as a small Airliner. It has experienced profitable result for 29 years and the fourth largest US airline. Its strategy is to have the lowest operating cost structure, simplest fare and provide excellent customer service. It is one of the most recognized brand in the US airline Industry and consistently ranked top in the business. 

One of Southwest's key strategic advantage is its focus on providing short direct point to point service. Also it maintained low administrative costs by generating most of its booking online via the website. This had significant cost advantage compared to booking through a travel agent. It was also ranked one of the most searches on the internet. 

Southwest was also recognized as one the top businesses to work for in the US, it is committed to providing its employees the best place to work. It strongly believed that satisfied employees would lead to better services provided to its customers and hence better performance and results for the company as a whole. The pilots were not unionized nationally like other employees which allowed them to work extra hours. By having committed and dedicated employees southwest has managed to attain significant efficiency in its operations over its competitors. It also offered its employee’s profit sharing plans which resulted in significant earnings boost well above the industry average. Southwest also had a unique approach to hiring new employees by placing the responsibility on its current employees and using their profiles to filter potential candidates during the interview process. It has its own in-house training facilities to for constantly educating its employees and providing motivation for higher incentives. 

Southwest is a unique success story in the airline industry, by differentiating itself from its competitors it has been able to experience outstanding results and build a strong brand name.