Southwest Airlines

A I R L I N E S
W W W . S O U T H W E S T . C O M
Marketing Excellence

O V E R V I E W
Advertisement & Branding
Business Model
Work Environment
Statistics
Questions

Southwest uses humor to poke fun at itself and convey its
warm, friendly personality.
One TV spot showed a small bag of peanuts with the words,
“This is what our meals look like at Southwest Airlines..
...It’s also what our fares look like.”
As Southwest grew, its advertising showcased its
focus on low fares, frequent flights, on-time
arrivals, top safety record, and how bags fly free.
Advertisement & Branding

Several personalised aircrafts, including three
painted as flying killer whales, “Lone Star One”
painted like the Texas flag, and “Slam Dunk One,”
symbolising the airline’s partner- ship with the NBA

Business Model
Southwest’s business model is based on streamlining its
operations, which results in low fares and satisfied consumers.
The airline takes several steps to save money and passes the
savings to customers through low fares

F L I E S O V E R 3 1 0 0
S H O R T A N D P O I N T T O
P O I N T T R I P S I N A D A Y
Each Aircraft Takes
6.25
Flights / Week

The mechanics and
management can substitute
the aircraft and can
reschedule flight crews or
transfer mechanics in a
timely manner.
Fast Turn Around Service

Unique Boarding Process
Southwest’s unique boarding process helps. Instead of assigned seating, passengers
are assigned to one of three groups (A, B, C) and a number when they check in.
The number refers to where they stand in line at the gate.
Group A boards first, and once on board, passengers may sit anywhere they like.

Boeing 737
Another unique cost savings strategy is Southwest’s decision to operate Boeing 737s for all
its flights.
This simplifies the training process for pilots, flight attendants, and mechanics, and
management can substitute aircraft, reschedule flight crews, or transfer mechanics quickly.

F U E L
P U R C H A S I N G
P O L I C Y
Southwest’s biggest cost
savings technique and
competitive advantage has
long been its program to
hedge fuel prices by
purchasing options years in
advance.

A very productive and loyal workforce is a key reason
for it’s success.
Such loyalty and productivity among the employees
were brought by the way southwest’s Management
treats them.
Work Environment

It recruits employees who
work for a company they
love, instead of those who
demand simple pay check at
the end of the week.
The employees are rewarded
according to the feed back
given by the customers
HR Policy

Unique Services Offered
Same Day Freight Service
Ticketless Travel
Fun Fares

S T A T I S T I C S
Most Admired Airline
5th Most Admired Corporation
Top 5 Places to Work
Source:

Profits
Southwest is the only airline who are consistently earning
profits despite the problems the industry is facing since 11th
September, 2001
It has been a profit Making Entity for 37 straight Years
With such stability, the corporation is able to make decisions
and adjust policies, which other heavily burdened airlines may
not be able to imitate.

2017
Planning ahead means
action. We need to be
spending time considering
the best outcome for our
next two years.
A L A N C O F F M A N N – C E O

Question 1
Southwest has mastered the lowprice model and has the
financial results to prove it. Why don’t the other airlines
copy Southwest’s model?
Southwest is a lowcost airline that focuses on fast, nofrills service. It has
never served meals, does not have advanced seat reservations, and flies only
Boeing airplanes. These decisions have helped Southwest be flexible in the
face of the recent decreases in airplane passengers the world economic crisis.
Southwest is one of those airlines who are consistently earning profits despite
the problems the industry is facing. With such stability, the corporation is able
to make decisions and adjust policies, which other heavily burdened airlines
may not be able to imitate.

Question 2
What risks does Southwest face? Can it continue to thrive as
a low cost airline when tough economic times hit?
Firstly, South West Airlines have to run their flight even if only half of the
seats are full. In such situation goes on prevailing, in that case the airlines have
a risk of earning really low revenue. Secondly, South West Airlines is at
constant price wars with its competitors. In such price wars, sometimes South
West is forced to keep the prices of tickets really low. Thus in this case too the
airline runs a risk of eventually earning low revenue

SUMMARY
Southwest advertising showcased its focus on low
fares, frequent flights, ontime arrivals, top safety
record
Southwest’s business model is based on
streamlining its operations, which results in low
fares and satisfied consumers
A very productive and loyal workforce is a key
reason for it’s success. Excellent HR policies have
benefitted the Airlines Significantly.
Southwest had the Largest Market Share of 18% as
of August 2015
It has been a profit Making Entity for 37 straight
Years. With such stability, the corporation is able to
make decisions and adjust policies, which other
heavily burdened airlines may not be able to imitate.

DISCLAIMER
CREATED BY
TARUN YADAV
Marketing Internship By-
Prof. Sameer Mathur
IIM Lucknow

Southwest Airlines

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