Southwest buys Airtran

[wheelsup]

As a result, a NY congressman pens a law to basically hamstring the new and drive him out of business and stop anyone else from thinking setting up shop there is a good idea.

SWA's business model when it first started was flying to 3 Texas airports so the Wright Agreement didn't even factor into their original business plan. And it catered to the business traveler at the "underserved" DAL. That is all from memory I haven't read Nuts! in a while.

 

[Area 5150]

So, Southwest wants to purchase AirTran, eh?

Glenn Beck, "SAID" this would happen.

What's next, USAjet goes after JAL? :insane:

It's some wild, wacky, crazy stuff happening out there, stay low my friends!!:beer:

 

[JOEFRIDAY2]

I'm not saying they should move; I'm saying the other carriers were forced to move which opened up DAL for SWA. DAL is the preferred airport because it was so close to the city. The carriers being forced to move happened before SWA even started operations IIRC and basically put DAL on a gold plate for SWA.

It would be like if the New York Port Authority said everyone in LGA has to move to JFK. Then a year later a new airline starts up and serves the "underserved" LGA. Of course they will be successful because the government handed them one of the most crowded airports on a golden platter.

Capitalism is great when everyone has a level playing field.

Every other airline can serve KDAL under the same terms and and conditions that SWA is subject to. It is a level playing field.

There is no restriction keeping any other airline out. In fact AMR and CO did actually try to operate at KDAL in the 1990's and were not successful. They kept paying rent on the abandoned gates and would not let SWA use them.

The bottom line is that SWA worked the airline business smarter and more efficiently than any other airline in history. SWA now carries 3 times the passengers in the US as the next closest airline. Customers obviously like this airline and vote with their feet to fly them. All of the things people complain about (no assigned seats, no first class seats, etc.) obviously are not important to those 100 million passengers a year that fly SWA.

What I find interesting is that SWA is not always the lowest priced fare. The way they book tickets (directly on their own website) does not allow customers to easily compare airfares. This works to their advantage.

SWA pilots are now the highest paid pilots in the industry.

SWA results are the most impressive of any airline in history. They have also had successful acquisitions and or mergers with two airlines in the past. Morris Air and ATA. They know how to integrate their acquisitions.

Joe

 

[O&M]

I'm not saying they should move; I'm saying the other carriers were forced to move which opened up DAL for SWA. DAL is the preferred airport because it was so close to the city. The carriers being forced to move happened before SWA even started operations IIRC and basically put DAL on a gold plate for SWA.

It would be like if the New York Port Authority said everyone in LGA has to move to JFK. Then a year later a new airline starts up and serves the "underserved" LGA. Of course they will be successful because the government handed them one of the most crowded airports on a golden platter.

Capitalism is great when everyone has a level playing field.

The other carriers were not forced to move. They CHOSE to move so they could be at the shiny new airport. The majors of the day, Braniff, American, Texas International, basically walked away from DAL, expecting everyone else to follow suit. WN, flying only to 3 cities in Texas, and having no need to service large airplanes to far away destinations chose to stay. They basically had the Dallas O&D traffic all to themselves.

The other airlines, realizing this, started using every nasty trick in the book, legal or otherwise, to force WN to move to DFW as well. This is the 1970's, when the 727 was the plane of the day. Almost as soon as DFW opened, the noise complaints from the surrounding communities started rolling in. The other airlines used Southwest presence at DAL as a scapegoat for the noise. Their claim was that airplanes departing DFW could turn away from from the poulated areas, except that DAL (and Southwest) was in the way. Their solution? Cut back on WN's "unbridled" growth by moving them to DFW. Hence a long drawn out legal fight, which resulted in the Wright Amendment.

WN realized it could not compete with the majors, so they chose to stay out of their way. It was the majors who picked the fight, and they ultimately lost.

 

[wheelsup]

If you were an airline and wanted to operate a flight outside of Texas you couldn't operate at DAL. Of course the airlines moved - they HAD NO OTHER CHOICE. Now, SWA lobbies and receives the right to operate outside of DAL.

 

[wheelsup]

Every other airline can serve KDAL under the same terms and and conditions that SWA is subject to. It is a level playing field.

Well it was a level playing field. The carriers left because they couldn't operate their airline as they had in the past. So they had to leave. Now the government is flipping that around. SWA moved in, set up shop, and moved to push the dismissal of the Wright law after entrenching their presence there.

SWA got their butt whopped when trying to penetrate Delta's ATL hub. The same would happen now if a carrier tried to go face-to-face with SWA in their hub. They have no chance.

 

[O&M]

Remember also that WN came along after DFW was in the works and before deregulation. So they were never a signatory to the agreement that bound the other airlines to DFW. Also, since they were an intrastate carrier at the time, they were not subject to the CAB. The Wright Agreement came about because the big boys got together and tried to wipe out WN by limiting WN's ability to compete. They complied with the Wright agreement for 25+ years. And despite that, they survived and thrived. WN finally got to the point where they were the 800 lb gorilla, and now they're exercising their influence accordingly. A classic case of comeuppance as far as I am concerned. Way to go WN!

This is what happens when the federal government gets involved with the private sector. Unintended conseqences. They get you every time.

 

[wheelsup]

Remember also that WN came along after DFW was in the works and before deregulation. So they were never a signatory to the agreement that bound the other airlines to DFW. Also, since they were an intrastate carrier at the time, they were not subject to the CAB. The Wright Agreement came about because the big boys got together and tried to wipe out WN by limiting WN's ability to compete. They complied with the Wright agreement for 25+ years. And despite that, they survived and thrived. WN finally got to the point where they were the 800 lb gorilla, and now they're exercising their influence accordingly. A classic case of comeuppance as far as I am concerned. Way to go WN!

This is what happens when the federal government gets involved with the private sector. Unintended conseqences. They get you every time.

SWA didn't move their operations under duress though. SWA knew going in that that as the deal. Now they are upset and cry and whine to get out of it. Completely unfair for the carriers that were basically told to move their operations to a much less favorable location.

The same crap is happening here at my airport. The local airport authority is forcing my (codeshare) carrier to move from one terminal to another even though my (codeshare) carrier owns the gates where they are. The airport authority is forcing them to give up their gate space to SWA while my (codeshare) carrier pays rent in the new terminal.

 

[Hacker15e]

SWA results are the most impressive of any airline in history.

 

[JOEFRIDAY2]

SWA got their butt whopped when trying to penetrate Delta's ATL hub. The same would happen now if a carrier tried to go face-to-face with SWA in their hub. They have no chance.

SWA has never served ATL. You must be talking about some other airline that got their butt whooped.

Joe