SWA Takes On The World
Now facing rising costs, more competition from copycats and the prospect of slower domestic growth, Southwest Airlines is planning to make its boldest move ever: Next year, Southwest will begin providing connecting domestic flights to passengers arriving in the U.S. on international airlines. “We have to find a way to get our revenues up, and there are two basic ways to do it,” Chief Executive Gary Kelly said in a recent interview, “higher fares or get more passengers per flight.”
Barring higher fares, Southwest will aim for the latter. Eventually, the airline might even fly its own international routes, perhaps first to Mexico and Canada before taking on Asia and Europe. Hope they provide a meal on those flights. LAX could play a key role in its international expansion plans. But the airline right now can’t claim any more LAX gates — other carriers already have dibs on them — and that could force it to look elsewhere, such as San Francisco International Airport. In November, Southwest will launch eight daily flights each way between LAX and San Francisco, with promotional fares starting at $39.
