90 AIRLINER WORLD JUNE 2018
itself in the airline industry. First and
foremost are our people and our
culture. We try to take care of our
people, so that they can take care of our
customers. We find that if we do those
two things right, the economics for our
shareholders just seems to work out.
“We talk a lot around here about what
our purpose is. Our objective is con-
necting people to what’s important in
their lives with friendly and low-cost
travel. The focus there is connecting
people,” the COO emphasises. “[With
some] companies, a lot of the time
they’re connecting equipment, and
many lose sight of the people. I think
we are unique in the industry in being
really focused on making sure our
product connects the people. The
second thing I think makes us uniqueis we have the largest all-Boeing fleet
in the world. That gives us tremendous
operating and cost advantages.”
This gives Southwest a unique and
special relationship with the US
manufacturer. But it is the airline’s
employees who really make the
difference, whether they are flying the
aircraft, maintaining them or loading
and unloading passengers. They’re
the experts.
“The third thing that differenti-
ates us is that we are unique in terms
of our point-to-point network. We
have a lot of mid-sized cities and we
have a lot of services to those. You
don’t have to fly through a hub if
you live in New Orleans, Austin, San
Antonio, Indianapolis, Albuquerque or
Pittsburgh. We offer a lot of non-stopflights which, I think, really makes us
favourites of the communities.
Lastly, and maybe this is a kind of
wrap-around for all this, we really try
to go out and offer a product that we
call ‘Transfarency’. We don’t try to hide
fees, we don’t try to trick you out of your
money. We try not to nickel-and-dime.
We don’t have bag fees or change fees.
We’ve got a frequent flyer programme
we call Rapid Rewards that gives you
great ways to earn points and we offer
free seats with those points on every
flight, every day.
“When you put all those things
together, you get a carrier that people
feel is different. I meet people [outside
of work] a lot and when they find out I
work for Southwest, it’s not uncommon
for them to say, ‘Southwest Airlines? I
love them. They’re my favourite
carrier.’ I bet I hear that 90% of the time
when I get out [into gatherings]. I’m not
sure others can claim that,” he said.The airline’s relaxed style
is reflected in the new
uniforms that have been
designed by its own staff.
Mike van de Ven,
Southwest’s chief operat-
ing officer, says the airline
is on a trajectory of slow,
steady growth that should
avoid the financial peaks
and troughs experienced by
other carriers.
The airline is celebrating 39
years of service in Louisiana
and to commemorate the
milestone it has repainted
Boeing 737-7H4, N946WN
(c/n 36918), in this attrac-
tive livery to match the
State flag.