Airline cheap fare southwest

The story of Southwest's legal fight was turned into a children's book, Gumwrappers and Goggles by Winifred Barnum in 1983. In the story, TJ Love, a small jet, is taken to court by two larger jets to keep him from their hangar, and then to try and stop him from flying at all. Taken to court, TJ Love's right to fly is upheld after an impassioned plea from The Lawyer. While no company names are mentioned in the book, TJ Love's colors are those of Southwest Airlines, and the two other jets are colored in Braniff and Continental's colors. The Lawyer is designed to resemble Herb Kelleher. The book was adapted into a stage musical, Show your Spirit, sponsored by Southwest Airlines, and played only in towns serviced by the airline.[8] Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher studied California-based Pacific Southwest Airlines extensively and used many of the airline's ideas to form the corporate culture at Southwest, and even on early flights used the same "Long Legs And Short Nights" theme for stewardesses on board typical Southwest Airlines flights. In early 1971, Air Southwest changed its name to Southwest Airlines, and the first flight was on June 18, 1971. Its first flights were from Love Field in Dallas to Houston and San Antonio,[9] short hops with no-frills service and a simple fare structure, features that became the basis for Southwest's popularity and rapid growth in the coming years. The rest of 1971 and 1972 saw operating losses. One of the four aircraft was sold to Frontier Airlines and the proceeds used to make payroll and cover other expenses. Southwest continued to operate a schedule predicated on four aircraft but using only three, and in so doing the "ten minute turn" was born, and was the standard ground time for many years.[10] Southwest turned its first annual profit in 1973, and has done so every year since — a record unmatched by any other commercial airline.[11] Southwest has used financial techniques such as fuel hedging to bolster its profitability and counteract many of the fiscal disadvantages of operating an airline. To lock in the low historical prices Southwest believed were occurring at that time, Southwest used a mixture of swaps and call options to secure fuel in future years while paying prices they believed were low. The company also stated that with this new strategy, it faced substantial risks if the oil prices continued to go down, but they did not. Previously, Southwest had been more interested in reducing volatility of oil prices. Now, they hoped to reap large gains from oil price appreciation. According an annual report, here is the company's fuel hedge for forward years ("approximate" per barrel basis, as of mid-January): 2007 is 95% hedged at $50/barrel; 2008 is 65% hedged at $49/barrel; 2009 is over 50% hedged at $51/barrel; 2010 is over 25% hedged at $63/barrel; 2011 is over is 15% hedged at $64/barrel; 2012 is 15% hedged at $63/barrel. These are well below market rates, which Southwest factors into its low operating costs. However, this below-market oil cost will not continue forever; executives have said that Southwest faces increased exposure to the raw oil market every year. This is not a good sign for the airline, which is also facing tough competition from US legacy carriers that have lowered costs through bankruptcy. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly has decided to slow the airlines' growth as a response to this cost. At present, Southwest has enjoyed much positive press (and a strong financial boost) from its energy trading skills. However, while most analysts agree that volatility hedges can be beneficial, speculative hedges are not widely supported as a continuing strategy for profits. The early 2000s hedges may in retrospect be an anomalous, lucky event and also a claim to fame for Southwest Airlines' reputation as a financially adept company. When airline deregulation came in 1978, Southwest began planning to offer interstate service from Love Field. This caused a number of interest groups affiliated with Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport, including the city of Fort Worth, to push the Wright Amendment through Congress to restrict such flights.[17] Under the restrictions of the amendment, Southwest, and all other airlines, were barred from operating, or even ticketing passengers on flights from Love Field to destinations beyond the states immediately surrounding Texas. In effect, to travel through Love Field, a passenger and luggage would have to deplane and fly on a separate ticket, on a separate aircraft. The Wright Amendment's restrictions didn't apply to aircraft configured with 56 or fewer seats. In 2000, Legend Airlines attempted to operate long distance business-class flights using older DC-9s with 56 seats, but did not have the resources to survive American's legal and marketing attacks, and quickly ceased operations. Southwest has not used the 56 seat loophole, even with its market strength at Love Field and the availability of more modern regional jets such as the CRJ-700/900 and the Embraer ERJ 145 family. In 1997, Southwest's effort began to pay off with the Shelby Amendment, which added the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kansas to the list of permissible destination states. Southwest now offers service between Dallas Love Field and Jackson, MS, via a connection at Houston, which it couldn't do prior to the enactment of the Shelby Amendment. Since late 2004, Southwest has actively sought the full repeal of the Wright Amendment restrictions. In late 2005, Missouri was added to the list of permissible destination states via a transportation appropriations bill. New service from Love Field to St. Louis and Kansas City quickly started in December 2005. Southwest started selling tickets under the new law on October 19, 2006. Highlights of the agreement are the immediate elimination of through-ticketing prohibitions, and unrestricted flights to domestic destinations eight years after the legislation takes effect. This agreement was a resounding victory for Southwest Airlines because nationwide service became possible, and the law defined the maximum number of gates at Love Field. Southwest controls all of the Love Field gates except for the two each that American and Continental control. The future of the Legend Airlines terminal for use by commercial airlines is in doubt because of the limit on number of gates. Despite the restrictions on its home base, Southwest proceeded to build a successful business on an unusual model: flying multiple short, quick trips into the secondary (more efficient and less costly) airports of major cities, using primarily only one aircraft type, the Boeing 737. As part of its effort to control costs, Southwest tries to use secondary airports which generally have lower costs and may, or may not be, more convenient to travelers than the major airports to the same destinations. For example, Southwest flies to Midway Airport in Chicago, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and West Palm Beach in South Florida, Love Field in Dallas, Hobby Airport in Houston, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, and T. F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island, instead of O'Hare International Airport, Miami International Airport, DFW International, IAH Intercontinental in Houston, and Logan International Airport in Boston, respectively. Southwest also serves the New York Metropolitan area at Long Island MacArthur Airport. Southwest makes exceptions to the philosophy of serving secondary airports by flying into some larger airports in major cities, such as Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Philadelphia International, Denver International Airport, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International and Pittsburgh International. In the Baltimore-Washington market, Southwest has limited flights into one major airport (Washington Dulles International Airport) while maintaining their east-coast focus city at the region's other major airport, Baltimore-Washington International Airport. In the Los Angeles market Southwest flies to both the major city airport, Los Angeles International (LAX), and to three of the four secondary airports, Burbank-Bob Hope Airport, John Wayne Airport, and LA/Ontario International Airport (it does not serve Long Beach Airport). With the restoration of service out of San Francisco International Airport on August 26, 2007, Southwest now serves all three airports in the San Francisco Bay Area; the other two being Oakland International Airport and San Jose International Airport. On February 9, 2007, Southwest Airlines announced internally that it was planning to restart operations at San Francisco International Airport, a station the airline closed in 2001.[25] Southwest CEO Gary Kelly has stated that the airline plans to commence service at SFO beginning in the "early fall" of 2007. On May 11, 2007, in an e-mail to Rapid Rewards members, Southwest announced that service to and from San Francisco would begin August 26th with eight daily nonstops to San Diego, seven to Las Vegas and three to Chicago's Midway Airport. The success and profitability of Southwest's business model led to a common trend being named after the company: The Southwest Effect. Since Southwest's original mission in Texas was to make it less expensive than driving between two points (in the early 1970s, during the first major energy cost crisis in the U.S.), it developed a template for entering markets at rates that allowed the airline to be profitable, yet only on the basis of lean operations and high aircraft use. The key concept to the Southwest Effect is that when a low-fare carrier (or any aggressive and innovative company) enters a market, the market itself changes, and usually grows dramatically. For example, when fares drop by 50% from their historical averages, the number of new customers in that market may not just double, but actually quadruple, or more. Southwest has been a major inspiration to other low-cost airlines, and its business model has been repeated many times around the world. Europe's easyJet and Ryanair as well as Canada's WestJet, are some of the best known airlines to follow Southwest's business strategy in that continent (though easyJet operates two different aircraft models today). Other airlines with a business model based on Southwest's system include New Zealand's Freedom Air, Malaysia's AirAsia (the first and biggest LCC in Asia), Qantas's Jetstar (although Jetstar now operates two aircraft types) and Thailand's Nok Air. Southwest Airlines has mostly pursued a strategy of internal growth, rather than by acquisition of other airlines as commonly occurs. However, in addition to acquisition of Morris Air Transport (see above), Southwest did acquire competitor Muse Air in 1985, which operated McDonnell Douglas MD-80s. Muse Air was renamed TranStar Airlines. ATA Airlines, one of Southwest Airlines' main competitors in the Chicago market, historically operated out of Midway Airport alongside Southwest. ATA declared bankruptcy, and in 2004, Southwest injected capital into ATA that (among other things) would have resulted in Southwest's 27.5% ownership stake in ATA upon their exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. In late 2005, ATA secured $100 million in additional financing from the firm of Matlin Patterson, and Southwest's original deal with ATA was modified such that Southwest no longer retained the 27.5% stake (or any other financial interest) in ATA. The codeshare arrangement, however, continues to remain in place and has expanded, with some internal controversy, to include all of ATA's 17 destinations and all of Southwest's 63 destinations. In 2006, Southwest's pilot union approved a codeshare sideletter to their contract with limitations on the growth of this and other codeshare agreements. While these restrictions today are minor, outsourcing remains a growing concern in the unions current contract negotiations. During 2006, Southwest Airlines began marketing ATA only flights. ATA's dependence on the Southwest network continued to grow in 2006, and today ATA offers over 70 flights a week to Hawaii from Southwest's hubs in PHX, LAS, LAX, and OAK. Additional connecting service is available to many other cities across the United States. Plans have been announced for ATA to offer exclusive international service for Southwest by 2010. Southwest today has taken over all ground operations for ATA at MDW, OAK, PHX, LAX, and LAS. These contracts provide that Southwest ramp personnel will now handle all ground operations (loading of aircraft, ground servicing, etc.) for ATA. The details of these contracts have not been made public but represent Southwest's and ATA's growing mutually beneficial codeshare relationship. Presently, there is no plan to open the ATA/Southwest codeshare to ATA's sister carriers; North American Airlines or World Airways, even though they are co-owned by the same corporate entity created from ATA Holdings. On November 8, 2007, Global Aero Logistics, parent company of ATA, formally announced to Southwest Airlines that its code-share passengers would be flying upon North American Airlines crewed aircraft for a portion of the 2007 Christmas season. Beginning in February 2005, ATA was run by John Denison, Southwest's former Chief Financial Officer. Effective January 1, 2007, Denison turned things over to Subodh Karnik, who is now President and Chief Executive Officer. Denison remains ATA's Chairman and Chairman of Global Aero Logistics Inc., the new name of ATA Holdings. Tickets cannot be purchased through common online venues like Orbitz or Travelocity; a minority are booked through travel agents. Most of Southwest's tickets are issued directly by the airline over the phone or online at the company's website which features Web-only fare discounts. Unlike other major airlines, Southwest allows passengers to change reservations without additional cost. While this provides flexibility to customers, Southwest does not allow same-day standby travel on a different flight (usually a free service at other airlines) without upgrading to maximum fare. Customers are not assigned seats; rather, they are assigned to one of three "boarding groups" depending on their check-in time (earlier check-ins get to board earlier), and are left to choose their own seats on the plane, which helps the airline to board passengers faster. At the May 2006 shareholders meeting, Southwest management announced a study of potentially adopting an assigned-seating system in 2008, as part of a reservations-technology overhaul now under way. As of November 8, 2007 Southwest has implemented an update to their Boarding Procedure in which passengers are now assigned their Boarding letter (A, B or C) along with a number which provides them a specific place in line (Example: A32). The idea behind this is to allow customers to not have to wait in line and spend their time relaxing or catching up on work. They have also introduced Business Select fares, which adds a guaranteed "A" group boarding pass, extra Rapid Rewards credit, and a drink. As a result of the boarding policy, several independent companies have offered automatic check-in services for Southwest. These companies take customer's orders for check-in ahead of the 24 hour mark (when the airline makes a flight available for online check-in) and transmit the necessary data for check-in to Southwest as soon as the airline opens up online check-in for a particular flight. The result of this service is that people using it generally get the first boarding group (known as the "A" boarding group). These early check-in sites include Seat-Sniper.com and CheckinSooner.com. Southwest has not embraced this practice and in fact sued one company (boardfirst.com) in federal district court in Dallas for impermissible commercial use of its website and succeeded in getting the company shut down in October 2007. Southwest maintained excellent customer satisfaction ratings; in 2006, according to the Department of Transportation December year end operating statistics, Southwest ranked number one (lowest number of complaints) of all U.S. airlines for customer complaints, with 0.18 per 100,000 customers enplaned. Southwest Airlines has consistently received the fewest ratio of complaints per passengers boarded of all major U.S. carriers that have been reporting statistics to the Department of Transportation (DOT) since September 1987, which is when the DOT began tracking Customer Satisfaction statistics and publishing its Air Travel Consumer Report. In February 2006, Southwest instituted capacity controls to redeeming its free tickets. This means that the airline limits the seats offered to frequent travelers using free certificates on each flight, whereas previously if there was a seat available, one could use the award, provided the passenger was not flying on one of the five blackout dates. In early 2006, Southwest expanded its codeshare agreement with ATA Airlines and now allows redemption of award tickets on Hawaii flights at the rate of two awards per round trip flight. Southwest and ATA stress that reward availability to Hawaii will be very limited. Travelers can also earn twice the normal number of credits when they purchase airfare on Hawaii-bound flights. Instead of a lawsuit, the CEOs for both companies staged an arm wrestling match. Held at the now demolished Dallas Sportatorium (the famed wrestling facility) and set for two out of three rounds, the loser of each round was to pay $5,000 to the charity of their choice, with the winner gaining the use of the trademarked phrase. A promotional video was created showing the CEOs "training" for the bout (with CEO Herb Kelleher being helped up during a sit up where a cigarette and glass of whiskey (Wild Turkey 101) was waiting) and distributed among the employees and as a video press release along with the video of the match itself. Herb Kelleher lost the match for Southwest, with Stevens Aviation winning the rights to the phrase. Kurt Herwald, CEO of Stevens Aviation, immediately granted the use of "Just Plane Smart" to Southwest Airlines. The net result was both companies having use of the trademark, $15,000 going to charity and a healthy dose of goodwill publicity for both companies. The President of Southwest is Colleen Barrett, who has been with the company since day one. Southwest's CFO is Laura Wright. In July 2007, it was announced that Herb Kelleher will resign his position as Chairman effective May 2008. Colleen Barrett will leave her post on the Board of Directors and Corporate Secretary in May 2008 and President in July 2008. Both will remain active employees of Southwest Airlines. The American version of the reality show Airline showcased Southwest Airlines passengers and employees in daily mishaps and life at some of Southwest's major airports (BWI, MDW, LAX, & HOU). The show premiered January 5, 2004 on the A&E Network, but was canceled after 70 episodes on December 15, 2005. Southwest is the world's largest operator of the 737. Their current active fleet is over 500 aircraft. In terms of total 737 production (all models in history), deliveries of new aircraft from Boeing to Southwest accounts for approximately 9% of total production. Southwest has one of the largest fleets in North America. Southwest's original primary livery was beige and red, with orange on the tail end, and pinstripes of white separating each section of color. The word Southwest appears in white on the beige portion of the tail. (Although, on the original three 737-200s, from June of 1971, on the left side of the plane, the word Southwest was placed along the upper rear portion of the fuselage, with the word Airlines painted on the tail where Southwest is today N21SW. On the right side, the word Southwest was in the same place as today, but also had the word Airlines painted on the upper rear portion of the fuselage.N20SW. Southwest introduced the Canyon Blue Fleet in 2001, its first primary livery change in its 30-year history. Spirit One was the first plane painted in the color scheme. The new livery replaces the primary beige color with canyon blue and changes the Southwest text and pinstripes to gold. The pinstripe along the plane is drawn in a more curved pattern instead of the straight horizontal line separating the colors in the original. The original livery is gradually being phased out, but three aircraft will remain in the original livery to commemorate Southwest's original three cities. As of November 16, 2007, Southwest has nearly completed updating the fleet.[16] The first aircraft to be painted in the "Shamu" scheme was N334SW (1988), a 737-300, and it was later followed by N507SW (Shamu II) and N501SW (Shamu III), both 737-500s. Subsequent to the retirement of Southwest's 737-200s, the 737-500s began to stay within a smaller geographic area formerly operated by the 737-200s, and as such, Sea World was no longer getting the optimal national exposure from these two aircraft. Two 737-700 aircraft, N713SW and N715SW, were repainted as the new Shamu aircraft, and both N501SW and N507SW were eventually repainted in Canyon Blue colors. All three current Shamu aircraft are no longer referred to as Shamu I, II, or III. The artwork on the nose of each aircraft simply states "Shamu". The overhead bins of these aircraft display ads for Sea World, except towards the front and back of the airplane, where the bins get smaller and are no longer uniform. The first aircraft to be painted in the "Shamu" scheme was N334SW (1988), a 737-300, and it was later followed by N507SW (Shamu II) and N501SW (Shamu III), both 737-500s. Subsequent to the retirement of Southwest's 737-200s, the 737-500s began to stay within a smaller geographic area formerly operated by the 737-200s, and as such, Sea World was no longer getting the optimal national exposure from these two aircraft. Two 737-700 aircraft, N713SW and N715SW, were repainted as the new Shamu aircraft, and both N501SW and N507SW were eventually repainted in Canyon Blue colors. All three current Shamu aircraft are no longer referred to as Shamu I, II, or III. The artwork on the nose of each aircraft simply states "Shamu". The overhead bins of these aircraft display ads for Sea World, except towards the front and back of the airplane, where the bins get smaller and are no longer uniform. Triple Crown One: (1997) Livery dedicated to the employees of Southwest, in recognition of Southwest receiving five Triple Crown airline industry awards (best on-time record, best baggage handling, and fewest customer complaints). The overhead bins in Triple Crown One one are inscribed with the names of all employees that worked for Southwest at the time, in honor of their part in winning the award.(N647SW) Southwest received both the 5,000th 737 produced (February 13, 2006) (N230WN) and the 2,000th "Next Generation" 737 produced (July 27, 2006) (N248WN). The 2,000th "Next Generation" 737 is marked as such in its livery, though the 5,000th 737 is not similarly marked. All special planes prior to Spirit One originally wore the standard beige, red and orange livery colors on the vertical stabilizer and rudder. Subsequent special editions—Maryland One and Slam Dunk One, so far—feature tails with the canyon blue color scheme, and all earlier specials, with the exception of Triple Crown One have been repainted to match. On December 8, 2005, Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 skidded off a runway upon landing at Chicago Midway International Airport in heavy snow conditions. A six-year old boy died in a car struck by the plane after the plane skidded into a street. Passengers on board the aircraft and on the ground reported several minor injuries. The aircraft involved, N471WN, became N286WN after repairs. For 2007, the eighth year in a row, Business Ethics magazine lists Southwest Airlines in its “100 Best Corporate Citizens,” a list that ranks public companies based on their corporate service to various stakeholder groups. Southwest is one of only 11 repeat winners that have made the list all eight years According to Institutional Investor magazine, Southwest Airlines ranked number one in the Consumer category among all airlines as the “Most Shareholder Friendly Company” based on the effectiveness of Southwest’s governance and investor relations as part of their overall efforts to maximize share holder value. ABX Air�• Alaska Airlines�• Aloha Airlines�• American Airlines�• Astar Air Cargo�• ATA Airlines�• Atlas Air�• Continental Airlines�• Delta�Air�Lines�• Evergreen�International�Airlines�• FedEx Express�• Hawaiian Airlines�• JetBlue Airways�• Midwest Airlines�• Northwest�Airlines�• Southwest Airlines�• United Airlines�• UPS Airlines�• US Airways Associate Members: Aeroméxico�• Air Canada�• Air Jamaica�• Mexicana

Airline cheap fare southwest

The fare paid is a contribution to the operational costs of the transport system involved, either partial (as is frequently the case with publicly supported systems) or total. Many bus and rail systems in the United States recover only around one-third of their operational costs from fares (the farebox recovery ratio). The rules regarding how and when fares are to be paid and for how long they remain valid are many and varied. Rail and bus systems usually require the payment of fares on or before boarding. In the case of taxis and other vehicles for hire, payment is normally made at the end of the ride. Some systems allow transfers: that is to say that a single payment permits travel within a particular geographical zone or time period. Such an arrangement is helpful for people who need to transfer from one route to another in order to reach their destination. Sometimes transfers are valid in one direction only, requiring a new fare to be paid for the return trip. In the United Kingdom certain Train Operating Companies, such as South West Trains and Southern, have Revenue Protection Inspectors who can issue penalty fares to passengers who travel without a valid ticket. This is currently a minimum of £20 or twice the single fare for the journey made. In Toronto The local transit agency charges $500 for people evading a fare, over 181 times the cost of a regular fare. A device used to collect fares and tickets on street cars, trains and buses upon entry, replacing the need for a separate conductor. Nearly all major metropolitan transit agencies in the United States and Canada use a farebox to collect or validate fare payment. The first farebox was invented by Tom Loftin Johnson in 1880[1] and was used on streetcars built by the St. Louis Streetcar Co. Early models would catch coins and then sort them once the fare was accepted or "rung up". Later models after World War II had a counting function that would allow the fares to be added together so that a total per shift could be maintained by the transit revenue department. Fareboxes did not change again until around 1984, when fares in many larger cities reached $1.00 and the first dollar bill accepting farebox was put into service. In 2006, new fareboxes have the capability of accepting cash, credit, or smartcard transactions, and issuing day passes and transfers for riders. GFI Genfare is currently is one of the largest manufacturers of fareboxes in the world.

Airline cheap fare southwest

They do not decorate aisles or even fill shelves. Instead, pallets of the products on offer are simply parked alongside the aisles, and customers picking up products will gradually empty them. When all items on a pallet have been sold, they are replaced. Prices are given on plain labels. Shopping bags are charged for, as they are seen as a frill. Thus many shoppers put their shopping in the old cardboard boxes that the products came in, put it directly in their trolleys, re use old bags, or buy shopping bags at a low fee e.g. 3p/5c. Some low cost stores (such as Kwik Save in the United Kingdom) have abandoned this policy due to complaints from customers. One of the more famous no-frills cars was the Studebaker Scotsman, which was on sale from 1957 to 1958. These cars came with a low-grade cloth-trimmed front seat and contained only a driver's side sunvisor, no door armrests and painted trim (in lieu of chrome trim); even routine convenience items, such as a cigarette lighter and dome light were deleted. Buyers were allowed to buy only a low-cost heater and a few other trim and convenience items from a short options list; a radio was not offered as an option on this model (unlike Studebaker's more expensive models). During the gasoline crisis of the 1970s, many American automakers began offering no-frills models on their compact lines of cars (such as the Ford Pinto MPG, and Plymouth Duster "Feather Duster"). As before, these models usually had spartan trim (vinyl seats with rubber floor covering); fewer convenience items than the more expensive models (i.e. no cigarette lighter); lighter-weight components (such as aluminum on various engine, body and suspension components); and a manual transmission. The concept of a no-frills car in the European market was common in the fifties with cars such as the Ford Abeille or the Citroën ID Normale. It has only just been beginning again with the Dacia Logan and the Volkswagen Fox. While cost cuts are clearly visible in nearly any Brazilian car, the most aggressive form of no-frills cars available are the supermini and city cars sold at the Brazilian market, notably the Chevrolet Celta, Chevrolet Corsa, Fiat Uno, Fiat Palio, Ford Ka, FordFiesta, Ford EcoSport, Volkswagen Gol and Volkswagen Fox. Those cars tend to be noisy and feature cost cuttings like:

Airline cheap fare southwest

An airline provides air transport services for passengers or freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit. Airlines vary from those with a single airplane carrying mail or cargo, through full-service international airlines operating many hundreds of airplanes. Airline services can be categorized as being intercontinental, intracontinental, or domestic and may be operated as scheduled services or charters. Tony Jannus conducted the United States' first scheduled commercial airline flight on 1 January 1914 for the St. Petersburg-routes, which would, through time and mergers, evolve into Delta Air Lines, Braniff Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines (originally a division of Boeing), Trans World Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and Eastern Air Lines, to name a few. At the same time, Juan Trippe began a crusade to create an air network that would link America to the world, and he achieved this goal through his airline, Pan American World Airways, with a fleet of flying boats that linked Los Angeles to Shanghai and Boston to London. Pan Am was the only U.S. airline to go international before the 1940s. KLM, the oldest carrier still operating under its original name, was founded in 1919. The first flight (operated on behalf of KLM by Aircraft Transport and Travel) transported two English passengers to Schiphol, Amsterdam from London in 1920. Like other major European airlines of the time (see France and the UK below), KLM's early growth depended heavily on the needs to service links with far-flung colonial possessions (Dutch Indies). It is only after the loss of the Dutch Empire that KLM found itself based at a small country with few potential passengers, depending heavily on transfer traffic, and was one of the first to introduce the hub-system to facilitate easy connections. France began an air mail service to Morocco in 1919 that was bought out in 1927, renamed Aéropostale, and injected with capital to become a major international carrier. In 1933, Aéropostale went bankrupt, was nationalized and merged with several other airlines into what became Air France. In Finland, the charter establishing Aero O/Y (now Finnair, one of the oldest still-operating airlines in the world) was signed in the city of Helsinki on 12 September 1923. Junkers F 13 D-335 became the first aircraft of the company, when Aero took delivery of it on 14 March 1924. The first flight was between Helsinki and Tallinn, capital of Estonia, and it took place on 20 March 1924, one week later. Germany's Lufthansa began in 1926. Lufthansa, unlike most other airlines at the time, became a major investor in airlines outside of Europe, providing capital to Varig and Avianca. German airliners built by Junkers, Dornier, and Fokker were the most advanced in the world at the time. The peak of German air travel came in the mid-1930s, when Nazi propaganda ministers approved the start of commercial zeppelin service: the big airships were a symbol of industrial might, but the fact that they used flammable hydrogen gas raised safety concerns that culminated with the Hindenburg disaster of 1937. The reason they used hydrogen instead of the not-flammable helium gas was a United States military embargo on helium. The British company Aircraft Transport and Travel commenced a London to Paris service on 25 August 1919, this was the world's first regular international flight. The United Kingdom's flag carrier during this period was Imperial Airways, which became BOAC (British Overseas Airlines Co.) in 1939. Imperial Airways used huge Handley-Page biplanes for routes between London, the Middle East, and India: images of Imperial aircraft in the middle of the Rub'al Khali, being maintained by Bedouins, are among the most famous pictures from the heyday of the British Empire. The first country in Asia to embrace air transport was the Philippines. Philippine Airlines was founded on February 26, 1941, making it Asia's oldest carrier still operating under its current name. The airline was started by a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano, hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time. The airline’s first flight was made on March 15, 1941 with a single Beech Model 18 NPC-54 aircraft, which started its daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio, later to expand with larger aircraft such as the DC-3 and Vickers Viscount. Notably Philippine Airlines leased Japan Airlines their first aircraft, a DC-3 named "Kinsei". On July 31, 1946, a chartered Philippine Airlines DC-4 ferried 40 American servicemen to Oakland,California from Nielson Airport in Makati City with stops in Guam, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll and Honolulu, Hawaii, making PAL the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean. A regular service between Manila and San Francisco was started in December. It was during this year that the airline was designated as the Philippines flag carrier. Another airline company to begin early operations was Air India, which had its beginning as Tata Airlines in 1932, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now Tata Group) by India's leading industrialist JRD Tata. On October 15, 1932, J. R. D. Tata himself flew a single engined De Havilland Puss Moth carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad. The aircraft continued to Madras via Bellary piloted by Royal Air Force pilot Nevill Vincent. Following the end of World War II, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines became a public limited company on 29 July 1946 under the name Air India. After the Independence of India, 49% of the airline was acquired by the Government of India. In return, the airline was granted status to operate international services from India as the designated flag carrier under the name Air India International. Neighbouring countries also soon embraced air transport, notably with Cathay Pacific founded in 1946, Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines in 1947 (as Malayan Airways), Garuda Indonesia in 1949 and Japan Airlines founded in 1951. With the outbreak of World War Two, the airline presence in Asia came to a relative halt, with many new flag carriers donating their aircraft for military aid and other uses. World War II, like World War I, brought new life to the airline industry. Many airlines in the Allied countries were flush from lease contracts to the military, and foresaw a future explosive demand for civil air transport, for both passengers and cargo. They were eager to invest in the newly emerging flagships of air travel such as the Boeing Stratocruiser, Lockheed Constellation, and Douglas DC-6. Most of these new aircraft were based on American bombers such as the B-29, which had spearheaded research into new technologies such as pressurization. Most offered increased efficiency from both added speed and greater payload. The next big boost for the airlines would come in the 1970s, when the Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, and Lockheed L-1011 inaugurated widebody ("jumbo jet") service, which is still the standard in international travel. The Tupolev Tu-144 and its Western counterpart, Concorde, made supersonic travel a reality. In 1972, Airbus began producing Europe's most commercially successful line of airliners to date. The added efficiencies for these aircraft were often not in speed, but in passenger capacity, payload, and range. As the business cycle returned to normalcy, major airlines dominated their routes through aggressive pricing and additional capacity offerings, often swamping new startups. Only America West Airlines (which has since merged with US Airways) remained a significant survivor from this new entrant era, as dozens, even hundreds, have gone under. In many ways, the biggest winner in the deregulated environment was the air passenger. Indeed, the U.S. witnessed an explosive growth in demand for air travel, as many millions who had never or rarely flown before became regular fliers, even joining frequent flyer loyalty programs and receiving free flights and other benefits from their flying. New services and higher frequencies meant that business fliers could fly to another city, do business, and return the same day, for almost any point in the country. Air travel's advantages put intercity bus lines under pressure, and most have withered away. Thus the last 50 years of the airline industry have varied from reasonably profitable, to devastatingly depressed. As the first major market to deregulate the industry in 1978, U.S. airlines have experienced more turbulence than almost any other country or region. Today, almost every single legacy carrier except for American Airlines have operated under Chapter 11 bankruptcy provisions or have gone out of business. Many countries have national airlines that the government owns and operates. Fully private airlines are subject to a great deal of government regulation for economic, political, and safety concerns. For instance, the government often intervenes to halt airline labor actions in order to protect the free flow of people, communications, and goods between different regions without compromising safety. The United States, Australia, and to a lesser extent Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Japan have "deregulated" their airlines. In the past, these governments dictated airfares, route networks, and other operational requirements for each airline. Since deregulation, airlines have been largely free to negotiate their own operating arrangements with different airports, enter and exit routes easily, and to levy airfares and supply flights according to market demand. The entry barriers for new airlines are lower in a deregulated market, and so the U.S. has seen hundreds of airlines start up (sometimes for only a brief operating period). This has produced far greater competition than before deregulation in most markets, and average fares tend to drop 20% or more. The added competition, together with pricing freedom, means that new entrants often take market share with highly reduced rates that, to a limited degree, full service airlines must match. This is a major constraint on profitability for established carriers, which tend to have a higher cost base. Groups such as the International Civil Aviation Organization establish worldwide standards for safety and other vital concerns. Most international air traffic is regulated by bilateral agreements between countries, which designate specific carriers to operate on specific routes. The model of such an agreement was the Bermuda Agreement between the US and UK following World War II, which designated airports to be used for transatlantic flights and gave each government the authority to nominate carriers to operate routes. Bilateral agreements are based on the "freedoms of the air," a group of generalized traffic rights ranging from the freedom to overfly a country to the freedom to provide domestic flights within a country (a very rarely granted right known as cabotage). Most agreements permit airlines to fly from their home country to designated airports in the other country: some also extend the freedom to provide continuing service to a third country, or to another destination in the other country while carrying passengers from overseas. In the 1990s, "open skies" agreements became more common. These agreements take many of these regulatory powers from state governments and open up international routes to further competition. Open skies agreements have met some criticism, particularly within the European Union, whose airlines would be at a comparative disadvantage with the United States' because of cabotage restrictions. One argument is that positive externalities, such as higher growth due to global mobility, outweigh the microeconomic losses and justify continuing government intervention. A historically high level of government intervention in the airline industry can be seen as part of a wider political consensus on strategic forms of transport, such as highways and railways, both of which receive public funding in most parts of the world. Profitability is likely to improve in the future as privatization continues and more competitive low-cost carriers proliferate. Because of the complications in scheduling flights and maintaining profitability, airlines have many loopholes that can be used by the knowledgeable traveler. Many of these airfare secrets are becoming more and more known to the general public, so airlines are forced to make constant adjustments. Most airlines use differentiated pricing, a form of price discrimination, in order to sell air services at varying prices simultaneously to different segments. Factors influencing the price include the days remaining until departure, the booked load factor, the forecast of total demand by price point, competitive pricing in force, and variations by day of week of departure and by time of day. Carriers often accomplish this by dividing each cabin of the aircraft (first, business and economy) into a number of travel classes for pricing purposes. A complicating factor is that of origin-destination control ("O&D control"). Someone purchasing a ticket from Melbourne to Sydney (as an example) for $200 (AUD) is competing with someone else who wants to fly Melbourne to Los Angeles through Sydney on the same flight, and who is willing to pay $1400 (AUD). Should the airline prefer the $1400 passenger, or the $200 passenger plus a possible Sydney-Los Angeles passenger willing to pay $1300? Airlines have to make hundreds of thousands of similar pricing decisions daily. The advent of advanced computerized reservations systems in the late 1970s, most notably Sabre, allowed airlines to easily perform cost-benefit analyses on different pricing structures, leading to almost perfect price discrimination in some cases (that is, filling each seat on an aircraft at the highest price that can be charged without driving the consumer elsewhere). Price discrimination is considered an anti-business practice, and is defined as price discriminations definition: different prices for identical products. Technically this is the total of the specific action of the other airline, without violating laws. The archaic airlines, with hub-systems and unprofitable pricing structures, have legally defined this term as an attack on business, although this act is not outside of law. The low cost carriers (LCC's) are new on the scene and did not have the contacts or resources to outlaw this definition of a purely legal business practice (in which they chose to participate) as a monopolistic practice to those with the aforementioned archaic pricing structure. The national carriers have yet to define how discrimination is an intenionally harmful and volitionally detrimental act upon their business by a competitor. Laws protecting business can be applied, or those who have the greatest impact may insinuate without proof that they are treated unfairly, and can thus use their legal status as the defendant to limit LCC's manuevaribility within the market. An example is that they demand taxes from the US government for specific airports, for which the National's receive exemption or subsidy for either a)seniority/grandfathering treatment, or b)legal status as financially on the brink (i.e. pre-bankruptcy). The intense nature of airfare pricing has led to the term "fare war" to describe efforts by airlines to undercut other airlines on competitive routes. Through computers, new airfares can be published quickly and efficiently to the airlines' sales channels. For this purpose the airlines use the Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO), who distribute latest fares for more than 500 airlines to Computer Reservation Systems across the world. Full-service airlines have a high level of fixed and operating costs in order to establish and maintain air services: labor, fuel, airplanes, engines, spares and parts, IT services and networks, airport equipment, airport handling services, sales distribution, catering, training, aviation insurance and other costs. Thus all but a small percentage of the income from ticket sales is paid out to a wide variety of external providers or internal cost centers. Moreover, the industry is structured so that airlines often act as tax collectors. Airline fuel is untaxed, however, due to a series of treaties existing between countries. Ticket prices include a number of fees, taxes, and surcharges they have little or no control over, and these are passed through to various providers. Airlines are also responsible for enforcing government regulations. If airlines carry passengers without proper documentation on an international flight, they are responsible for returning them back to the originating country. In contrast, Southwest Airlines has been the most profitable of airline companies since 1970. Indeed, some sources have calculated Southwest to be the best performing stock over the period, outperforming Microsoft and many other high performing companies. The chief reasons for this are their product consistency and cost control. The widespread entrance of a new breed of low cost airlines beginning at the turn of the century has accelerated the demand that full service carriers control costs. Many of these low cost companies emulate Southwest Airlines in various respects, and like Southwest, they are able to eke out a consistent profit throughout all phases of the business cycle. As a result, a shakeout of airlines is occurring in the U.S. and elsewhere. United Airlines, US Airways (twice), Delta Air Lines, and Northwest Airlines have all declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and American has barely avoided doing so. Alitalia, Scandinavian Airlines System, SABENA, Swissair, Japan Air System, Viasa, Air Canada, Ansett Australia, and others have flirted with or declared bankruptcy since 1995, as low cost entrants enter their home markets as well. Some argue that it would be far better for the industry as a whole if a wave of actual closures were to reduce the number of "undead" airlines competing with healthy airlines while being artificially protected from creditors via bankruptcy law. On the other hand, some have pointed out that the reduction in capacity would be short lived given that there would be large quantities of relatively new aircraft that bankruptcies would want to get rid of and would re-enter the market either as increased fleets for the survivors or the basis of cheap planes for new startups. Airline financing is quite complex, since airlines are highly leveraged operations. Not only must they purchase (or lease) new airliner bodies and engines regularly, they must make major long-term fleet decisions with the goal of meeting the demands of their markets while producing a fleet that is relatively economical to operate and maintain. Compare Southwest Airlines and their reliance on a single airplane type (the Boeing 737 and derivatives), with the now defunct Eastern Air Lines which operated 17 different aircraft types, each with varying pilot, engine, maintenance, and support needs. A second financial issue is that of hedging oil and fuel purchases, which are usually second only to labor in its relative cost to the company. However, with the current high fuel prices it has become the largest cost to an airline. While hedging instruments can be expensive, they can easily pay for themselves many times over in periods of increasing fuel costs, such as in the 2000-2005 period. In view of the congestion apparent at many international airports, the ownership of slots at certain airports (the right to take-off or land an aircraft at a particular time of day or night) has become a significant tradable asset for many airlines. Clearly take-off slots at popular times of the day can be critical in attracting the more profitable business traveler to a given airline's flight and in establishing a competitive advantage against a competing airline. If a particular city has two or more airports, market forces will tend to attract the less profitable routes, or those on which competition is weakest, to the less congested airport, where slots are likely to be more available and therefore cheaper. Other factors, such as surface transport facilities and onward connections, will also affect the relative appeal of different airports and some long distance flights may need to operate from the one with the longest runway. Code sharing is the most common type of airline partnership; it involves one airline selling tickets for another airline's flights under its own airline code. An early example of this was Japan Airlines' code sharing partnership with Aeroflot in the 1960s on flights from Tokyo to Moscow: Aeroflot operated the flights using Aeroflot aircraft, but JAL sold tickets for the flights as if they were JAL flights. This practice allows airlines to expand their operations, at least on paper, into parts of the world where they cannot afford to establish bases or purchase aircraft. Another example was the Austrian- Sabena partnership on the Vienna-Brussels-New York JFK route during the late 60's, using a Sabena Boeing 707 with Austrian colors. Since airline reservation requests are often made by city-pair (such as "show me flights from Chicago to Düsseldorf"), an airline who is able to code share with another airline for a variety of routes might be able to be listed as indeed offering a Chicago-Düsseldorf flight. The passenger is advised however, that Airline 1 operates the flight from say Chicago to Amsterdam, and Airline 2 operates the continuing flight (on a different airplane, sometimes from another terminal) to Düsseldorf. Thus the primary rationale for code sharing is to expand one's service offerings in city-pair terms so as to increase sales. Often the companies combine IT operations, buy fuel, or purchase airplanes as a bloc in order to achieve higher bargaining power. However, the alliances have been most successful at purchasing invisible supplies and services, such as fuel. Airlines usually prefer to purchase items visible to their passengers to differentiate themselves from local competitors. If an airline's main domestic competitor flies Boeing airliners, then the airline may prefer to use Airbus aircraft regardless of what the rest of the alliance chooses. Each operator of a scheduled or charter flight uses a airline call sign when communicating with airports or air traffic control centers. Most of these call-signs are derived from the airline's trade name, but for reasons of history, marketing, or the need to reduce ambiguity in spoken English (so that pilots do not mistakenly make navigational decisions based on instructions issued to a different aircraft), some airlines and air forces use call-signs less obviously connected with their trading name. For example, British Airways uses a Speedbird call-sign, named after the logo of its predecessor, BOAC while America West used Cactus reflecting that company's home in the state of Arizona and to differentiate itself from numerous other airlines using America and West in their call signs. The industry is cyclical. Four or five years of poor performance precede five or six years of improved performance. But profitability in the good years is generally low, in the range of 2-3% net profit after interest and tax. In times of profit, airlines lease new generations of airplanes and upgrade services in response to higher demand. Since 1980, the industry has not earned back the cost of capital during the best of times. Conversely, in bad times losses can be dramatically worse.

Airline cheap fare southwest

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Airline cheap fare southwest

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Airline cheap fare southwest

The story of Southwest's legal fight was turned into a children's book, Gumwrappers and Goggles by Winifred Barnum in 1983. In the story, TJ Love, a small jet, is taken to court by two larger jets to keep him from their hangar, and then to try and stop him from flying at all. Taken to court, TJ Love's right to fly is upheld after an impassioned plea from The Lawyer. While no company names are mentioned in the book, TJ Love's colors are those of Southwest Airlines, and the two other jets are colored in Braniff and Continental's colors. The Lawyer is designed to resemble Herb Kelleher. The book was adapted into a stage musical, Show your Spirit, sponsored by Southwest Airlines, and played only in towns serviced by the airline.[8] Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher studied California-based Pacific Southwest Airlines extensively and used many of the airline's ideas to form the corporate culture at Southwest, and even on early flights used the same "Long Legs And Short Nights" theme for stewardesses on board typical Southwest Airlines flights. In early 1971, Air Southwest changed its name to Southwest Airlines, and the first flight was on June 18, 1971. Its first flights were from Love Field in Dallas to Houston and San Antonio,[9] short hops with no-frills service and a simple fare structure, features that became the basis for Southwest's popularity and rapid growth in the coming years. The rest of 1971 and 1972 saw operating losses. One of the four aircraft was sold to Frontier Airlines and the proceeds used to make payroll and cover other expenses. Southwest continued to operate a schedule predicated on four aircraft but using only three, and in so doing the "ten minute turn" was born, and was the standard ground time for many years.[10] Southwest turned its first annual profit in 1973, and has done so every year since — a record unmatched by any other commercial airline.[11] Southwest has used financial techniques such as fuel hedging to bolster its profitability and counteract many of the fiscal disadvantages of operating an airline. To lock in the low historical prices Southwest believed were occurring at that time, Southwest used a mixture of swaps and call options to secure fuel in future years while paying prices they believed were low. The company also stated that with this new strategy, it faced substantial risks if the oil prices continued to go down, but they did not. Previously, Southwest had been more interested in reducing volatility of oil prices. Now, they hoped to reap large gains from oil price appreciation. According an annual report, here is the company's fuel hedge for forward years ("approximate" per barrel basis, as of mid-January): 2007 is 95% hedged at $50/barrel; 2008 is 65% hedged at $49/barrel; 2009 is over 50% hedged at $51/barrel; 2010 is over 25% hedged at $63/barrel; 2011 is over is 15% hedged at $64/barrel; 2012 is 15% hedged at $63/barrel. These are well below market rates, which Southwest factors into its low operating costs. However, this below-market oil cost will not continue forever; executives have said that Southwest faces increased exposure to the raw oil market every year. This is not a good sign for the airline, which is also facing tough competition from US legacy carriers that have lowered costs through bankruptcy. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly has decided to slow the airlines' growth as a response to this cost. At present, Southwest has enjoyed much positive press (and a strong financial boost) from its energy trading skills. However, while most analysts agree that volatility hedges can be beneficial, speculative hedges are not widely supported as a continuing strategy for profits. The early 2000s hedges may in retrospect be an anomalous, lucky event and also a claim to fame for Southwest Airlines' reputation as a financially adept company. When airline deregulation came in 1978, Southwest began planning to offer interstate service from Love Field. This caused a number of interest groups affiliated with Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport, including the city of Fort Worth, to push the Wright Amendment through Congress to restrict such flights.[17] Under the restrictions of the amendment, Southwest, and all other airlines, were barred from operating, or even ticketing passengers on flights from Love Field to destinations beyond the states immediately surrounding Texas. In effect, to travel through Love Field, a passenger and luggage would have to deplane and fly on a separate ticket, on a separate aircraft. The Wright Amendment's restrictions didn't apply to aircraft configured with 56 or fewer seats. In 2000, Legend Airlines attempted to operate long distance business-class flights using older DC-9s with 56 seats, but did not have the resources to survive American's legal and marketing attacks, and quickly ceased operations. Southwest has not used the 56 seat loophole, even with its market strength at Love Field and the availability of more modern regional jets such as the CRJ-700/900 and the Embraer ERJ 145 family. In 1997, Southwest's effort began to pay off with the Shelby Amendment, which added the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kansas to the list of permissible destination states. Southwest now offers service between Dallas Love Field and Jackson, MS, via a connection at Houston, which it couldn't do prior to the enactment of the Shelby Amendment. Since late 2004, Southwest has actively sought the full repeal of the Wright Amendment restrictions. In late 2005, Missouri was added to the list of permissible destination states via a transportation appropriations bill. New service from Love Field to St. Louis and Kansas City quickly started in December 2005. Southwest started selling tickets under the new law on October 19, 2006. Highlights of the agreement are the immediate elimination of through-ticketing prohibitions, and unrestricted flights to domestic destinations eight years after the legislation takes effect. This agreement was a resounding victory for Southwest Airlines because nationwide service became possible, and the law defined the maximum number of gates at Love Field. Southwest controls all of the Love Field gates except for the two each that American and Continental control. The future of the Legend Airlines terminal for use by commercial airlines is in doubt because of the limit on number of gates. Despite the restrictions on its home base, Southwest proceeded to build a successful business on an unusual model: flying multiple short, quick trips into the secondary (more efficient and less costly) airports of major cities, using primarily only one aircraft type, the Boeing 737. As part of its effort to control costs, Southwest tries to use secondary airports which generally have lower costs and may, or may not be, more convenient to travelers than the major airports to the same destinations. For example, Southwest flies to Midway Airport in Chicago, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and West Palm Beach in South Florida, Love Field in Dallas, Hobby Airport in Houston, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, and T. F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island, instead of O'Hare International Airport, Miami International Airport, DFW International, IAH Intercontinental in Houston, and Logan International Airport in Boston, respectively. Southwest also serves the New York Metropolitan area at Long Island MacArthur Airport. Southwest makes exceptions to the philosophy of serving secondary airports by flying into some larger airports in major cities, such as Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Philadelphia International, Denver International Airport, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International and Pittsburgh International. In the Baltimore-Washington market, Southwest has limited flights into one major airport (Washington Dulles International Airport) while maintaining their east-coast focus city at the region's other major airport, Baltimore-Washington International Airport. In the Los Angeles market Southwest flies to both the major city airport, Los Angeles International (LAX), and to three of the four secondary airports, Burbank-Bob Hope Airport, John Wayne Airport, and LA/Ontario International Airport (it does not serve Long Beach Airport). With the restoration of service out of San Francisco International Airport on August 26, 2007, Southwest now serves all three airports in the San Francisco Bay Area; the other two being Oakland International Airport and San Jose International Airport. On February 9, 2007, Southwest Airlines announced internally that it was planning to restart operations at San Francisco International Airport, a station the airline closed in 2001.[25] Southwest CEO Gary Kelly has stated that the airline plans to commence service at SFO beginning in the "early fall" of 2007. On May 11, 2007, in an e-mail to Rapid Rewards members, Southwest announced that service to and from San Francisco would begin August 26th with eight daily nonstops to San Diego, seven to Las Vegas and three to Chicago's Midway Airport. The success and profitability of Southwest's business model led to a common trend being named after the company: The Southwest Effect. Since Southwest's original mission in Texas was to make it less expensive than driving between two points (in the early 1970s, during the first major energy cost crisis in the U.S.), it developed a template for entering markets at rates that allowed the airline to be profitable, yet only on the basis of lean operations and high aircraft use. The key concept to the Southwest Effect is that when a low-fare carrier (or any aggressive and innovative company) enters a market, the market itself changes, and usually grows dramatically. For example, when fares drop by 50% from their historical averages, the number of new customers in that market may not just double, but actually quadruple, or more. Southwest has been a major inspiration to other low-cost airlines, and its business model has been repeated many times around the world. Europe's easyJet and Ryanair as well as Canada's WestJet, are some of the best known airlines to follow Southwest's business strategy in that continent (though easyJet operates two different aircraft models today). Other airlines with a business model based on Southwest's system include New Zealand's Freedom Air, Malaysia's AirAsia (the first and biggest LCC in Asia), Qantas's Jetstar (although Jetstar now operates two aircraft types) and Thailand's Nok Air. Southwest Airlines has mostly pursued a strategy of internal growth, rather than by acquisition of other airlines as commonly occurs. However, in addition to acquisition of Morris Air Transport (see above), Southwest did acquire competitor Muse Air in 1985, which operated McDonnell Douglas MD-80s. Muse Air was renamed TranStar Airlines. ATA Airlines, one of Southwest Airlines' main competitors in the Chicago market, historically operated out of Midway Airport alongside Southwest. ATA declared bankruptcy, and in 2004, Southwest injected capital into ATA that (among other things) would have resulted in Southwest's 27.5% ownership stake in ATA upon their exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. In late 2005, ATA secured $100 million in additional financing from the firm of Matlin Patterson, and Southwest's original deal with ATA was modified such that Southwest no longer retained the 27.5% stake (or any other financial interest) in ATA. The codeshare arrangement, however, continues to remain in place and has expanded, with some internal controversy, to include all of ATA's 17 destinations and all of Southwest's 63 destinations. In 2006, Southwest's pilot union approved a codeshare sideletter to their contract with limitations on the growth of this and other codeshare agreements. While these restrictions today are minor, outsourcing remains a growing concern in the unions current contract negotiations. During 2006, Southwest Airlines began marketing ATA only flights. ATA's dependence on the Southwest network continued to grow in 2006, and today ATA offers over 70 flights a week to Hawaii from Southwest's hubs in PHX, LAS, LAX, ONT, and OAK. Additional connecting service is available to many other cities across the United States. Plans have been announced for ATA to offer exclusive international service for Southwest by 2010. Southwest today has taken over all ground operations for ATA at MDW, OAK, PHX, LAX, and LAS. These contracts provide that Southwest ramp personnel will now handle all ground operations (loading of aircraft, ground servicing, etc.) for ATA. The details of these contracts have not been made public but represent Southwest's and ATA's growing mutually beneficial codeshare relationship. Presently, there is no plan to open the ATA/Southwest codeshare to ATA's sister carriers; North American Airlines or World Airways, even though they are co-owned by the same corporate entity created from ATA Holdings. On November 8, 2007, Global Aero Logistics, parent company of ATA, formally announced to Southwest Airlines that its code-share passengers would be flying upon North American Airlines crewed aircraft for a portion of the 2007 Christmas season. Beginning in February 2005, ATA was run by John Denison, Southwest's former Chief Financial Officer. Effective January 1, 2007, Denison turned things over to Subodh Karnik, who is now President and Chief Executive Officer. Denison remains ATA's Chairman and Chairman of Global Aero Logistics Inc., the new name of ATA Holdings. Tickets cannot be purchased through common online venues like Orbitz or Travelocity; a minority are booked through travel agents. Most of Southwest's tickets are issued directly by the airline over the phone or online at the company's website which features Web-only fare discounts. Unlike other major airlines, Southwest allows passengers to change reservations without additional cost. While this provides flexibility to customers, Southwest does not allow same-day standby travel on a different flight (usually a free service at other airlines) without upgrading to maximum fare. Customers are not assigned seats; rather, they are assigned to one of three "boarding groups" depending on their check-in time (earlier check-ins get to board earlier), and are left to choose their own seats on the plane, which helps the airline to board passengers faster. At the May 2006 shareholders meeting, Southwest management announced a study of potentially adopting an assigned-seating system in 2008, as part of a reservations-technology overhaul now under way. As of November 8, 2007 Southwest has implemented an update to their Boarding Procedure in which passengers are now assigned their Boarding letter (A, B or C) along with a number which provides them a specific place in line (Example: A32). The idea behind this is to allow customers to not have to wait in line and spend their time relaxing or catching up on work. They have also introduced Business Select fares, which adds a guaranteed "A" group boarding pass, extra Rapid Rewards credit, and a drink. As a result of the boarding policy, several independent companies have offered automatic check-in services for Southwest. These companies take customer's orders for check-in ahead of the 24 hour mark (when the airline makes a flight available for online check-in) and transmit the necessary data for check-in to Southwest as soon as the airline opens up online check-in for a particular flight. The result of this service is that people using it generally get the first boarding group (known as the "A" boarding group). These early check-in sites include Seat-Sniper.com and CheckinSooner.com. Southwest has not embraced this practice and in fact sued one company (boardfirst.com) in federal district court in Dallas for impermissible commercial use of its website and succeeded in getting the company shut down in October 2007. Southwest maintained excellent customer satisfaction ratings; in 2006, according to the Department of Transportation December year end operating statistics, Southwest ranked number one (lowest number of complaints) of all U.S. airlines for customer complaints, with 0.18 per 100,000 customers enplaned. Southwest Airlines has consistently received the fewest ratio of complaints per passengers boarded of all major U.S. carriers that have been reporting statistics to the Department of Transportation (DOT) since September 1987, which is when the DOT began tracking Customer Satisfaction statistics and publishing its Air Travel Consumer Report. In February 2006, Southwest instituted capacity controls to redeeming its free tickets. This means that the airline limits the seats offered to frequent travelers using free certificates on each flight, whereas previously if there was a seat available, one could use the award, provided the passenger was not flying on one of the five blackout dates. In early 2006, Southwest expanded its codeshare agreement with ATA Airlines and now allows redemption of award tickets on Hawaii flights at the rate of two awards per round trip flight. Southwest and ATA stress that reward availability to Hawaii will be very limited. Travelers can also earn twice the normal number of credits when they purchase airfare on Hawaii-bound flights. Instead of a lawsuit, the CEOs for both companies staged an arm wrestling match. Held at the now demolished Dallas Sportatorium (the famed wrestling facility) and set for two out of three rounds, the loser of each round was to pay $5,000 to the charity of their choice, with the winner gaining the use of the trademarked phrase. A promotional video was created showing the CEOs "training" for the bout (with CEO Herb Kelleher being helped up during a sit up where a cigarette and glass of whiskey (Wild Turkey 101) was waiting) and distributed among the employees and as a video press release along with the video of the match itself. Herb Kelleher lost the match for Southwest, with Stevens Aviation winning the rights to the phrase. Kurt Herwald, CEO of Stevens Aviation, immediately granted the use of "Just Plane Smart" to Southwest Airlines. The net result was both companies having use of the trademark, $15,000 going to charity and a healthy dose of goodwill publicity for both companies. The President of Southwest is Colleen Barrett, who has been with the company since day one. Southwest's CFO is Laura Wright. In July 2007, it was announced that Herb Kelleher will resign his position as Chairman effective May 2008. Colleen Barrett will leave her post on the Board of Directors and Corporate Secretary in May 2008 and President in July 2008. Both will remain active employees of Southwest Airlines. The American version of the reality show Airline showcased Southwest Airlines passengers and employees in daily mishaps and life at some of Southwest's major airports (BWI, MDW, LAX, & HOU). The show premiered January 5, 2004 on the A&E Network, but was canceled after 70 episodes on December 15, 2005. Southwest is the world's largest operator of the 737. Their current active fleet is over 500 aircraft. In terms of total 737 production (all models in history), deliveries of new aircraft from Boeing to Southwest accounts for approximately 9% of total production. Southwest has one of the largest fleets in North America. Southwest's original primary livery was beige and red, with orange on the tail end, and pinstripes of white separating each section of color. The word Southwest appears in white on the beige portion of the tail. (Although, on the original three 737-200s, from June of 1971, on the left side of the plane, the word Southwest was placed along the upper rear portion of the fuselage, with the word Airlines painted on the tail where Southwest is today N21SW. On the right side, the word Southwest was in the same place as today, but also had the word Airlines painted on the upper rear portion of the fuselage.N20SW. Southwest introduced the Canyon Blue Fleet in 2001, its first primary livery change in its 30-year history. Spirit One was the first plane painted in the color scheme. The new livery replaces the primary beige color with canyon blue and changes the Southwest text and pinstripes to gold. The pinstripe along the plane is drawn in a more curved pattern instead of the straight horizontal line separating the colors in the original. The original livery is gradually being phased out, but three aircraft will remain in the original livery to commemorate Southwest's original three cities. As of November 16, 2007, Southwest has nearly completed updating the fleet.[16] The first aircraft to be painted in the "Shamu" scheme was N334SW (1988), a 737-300, and it was later followed by N507SW (Shamu II) and N501SW (Shamu III), both 737-500s. Subsequent to the retirement of Southwest's 737-200s, the 737-500s began to stay within a smaller geographic area formerly operated by the 737-200s, and as such, Sea World was no longer getting the optimal national exposure from these two aircraft. Two 737-700 aircraft, N713SW and N715SW, were repainted as the new Shamu aircraft, and both N501SW and N507SW were eventually repainted in Canyon Blue colors. All three current Shamu aircraft are no longer referred to as Shamu I, II, or III. The artwork on the nose of each aircraft simply states "Shamu". The overhead bins of these aircraft display ads for Sea World, except towards the front and back of the airplane, where the bins get smaller and are no longer uniform. The first aircraft to be painted in the "Shamu" scheme was N334SW (1988), a 737-300, and it was later followed by N507SW (Shamu II) and N501SW (Shamu III), both 737-500s. Subsequent to the retirement of Southwest's 737-200s, the 737-500s began to stay within a smaller geographic area formerly operated by the 737-200s, and as such, Sea World was no longer getting the optimal national exposure from these two aircraft. Two 737-700 aircraft, N713SW and N715SW, were repainted as the new Shamu aircraft, and both N501SW and N507SW were eventually repainted in Canyon Blue colors. All three current Shamu aircraft are no longer referred to as Shamu I, II, or III. The artwork on the nose of each aircraft simply states "Shamu". The overhead bins of these aircraft display ads for Sea World, except towards the front and back of the airplane, where the bins get smaller and are no longer uniform. Triple Crown One: (1997) Livery dedicated to the employees of Southwest, in recognition of Southwest receiving five Triple Crown airline industry awards (best on-time record, best baggage handling, and fewest customer complaints). The overhead bins in Triple Crown One one are inscribed with the names of all employees that worked for Southwest at the time, in honor of their part in winning the award.(N647SW) Southwest received both the 5,000th 737 produced (February 13, 2006) (N230WN) and the 2,000th "Next Generation" 737 produced (July 27, 2006) (N248WN). The 2,000th "Next Generation" 737 is marked as such in its livery, though the 5,000th 737 is not similarly marked. All special planes prior to Spirit One originally wore the standard beige, red and orange livery colors on the vertical stabilizer and rudder. Subsequent special editions—Maryland One and Slam Dunk One, so far—feature tails with the canyon blue color scheme, and all earlier specials, with the exception of Triple Crown One have been repainted to match. On December 8, 2005, Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 skidded off a runway upon landing at Chicago Midway International Airport in heavy snow conditions. A six-year old boy died in a car struck by the plane after the plane skidded into a street. Passengers on board the aircraft and on the ground reported several minor injuries. The aircraft involved, N471WN, became N286WN after repairs. For 2007, the eighth year in a row, Business Ethics magazine lists Southwest Airlines in its “100 Best Corporate Citizens,” a list that ranks public companies based on their corporate service to various stakeholder groups. Southwest is one of only 11 repeat winners that have made the list all eight years According to Institutional Investor magazine, Southwest Airlines ranked number one in the Consumer category among all airlines as the “Most Shareholder Friendly Company” based on the effectiveness of Southwest’s governance and investor relations as part of their overall efforts to maximize share holder value. 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