Southwest Airlines

About Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines historically is loved by many of its customers. Bags fly free and open seating were amongst the many things that passengers fell in love with the airline for but all that has changed. Southwest is still a viable contender for low cost travel in the United States. By fleet size, they challenge Delta and United in terms of scale. The one thing that has hurt Southwest the most is their resistance to change, which squandered revenue and finds them behind the times on innovation. No premium classes. Southwest is now fixing all of that to the dismay of its loyalist customers.

Who Should Fly Southwest Airlines?

Southwest is still a great choice for low cost flying here in the United States. They fly just about everywhere, including Hawaii, where they are the biggest competitor to Alaska/Hawaiian for inter-island flights. If you want to fly in a bit more comfort without dealing with the open-seating scramble, you may look to an airline like JetBlue or Alaska but Southwest is actively working on becoming a more premium product.

What the Data Shows

Southwest is one of the most profitable airlines on the market. They have high aircraft utilization. A significant cost savings tool, as people and planes keep moving. There are no traditional hubs, but Southwest dominates several airports that happen to be secondary facilities in major cities: Dallas Love Field rather than DFW, Chicago Midway rather than O'Hare, Houston Hobby rather than IAH.

The 74% load factor is notably the lowest of any carrier in this set, which actually makes sense when you understand the model. Southwest deliberately operates more frequencies than competitors on each route, prioritizing schedule convenience. Filling a plane 74% of the time across twice as many flights generates strong total revenue even at lower per-flight utilization.