SWA In Trouble ?

[Polar742]

They added the "SWA Extension" to 35 so it's now just over 6000'. The other day we were going pretty much the same direction (I think the same jet route) and requested 35 for departure and were denied, SWA requested 35 and it was approved.

So much for equal treatment by ATC. One would figure that the east coast hardcore controllers wouldn't fall for that stuff.

Disappointing. I'm waiting for the day when I get vectored because of them after coming in from 14 hours away....:banghead:

 

[ctab5060X]

So much for equal treatment by ATC. One would figure that the east coast hardcore controllers wouldn't fall for that stuff.

I figure that SWA knows that spending money is the cost of running a business...

They just happen to spend it in the right places, if you catch my drift...

 

[Polar742]

They just happen to spend it in the right places, if you catch my drift...

If you think that, wait until you see the marketing budget for wegougeemandhow.

It'll make a longtime member of Congress weep...

 

[ctab5060X]

If you think that, wait until you see the marketing budget for wegougeemandhow.

It'll make a longtime member of Congress weep...

:rotfl::rotfl:


Was not expecting that!

 

[scramjet]

Did you learn that in your economics class?

I would have said, its due to the over expansion of SWA. Too much,too soon. I think the move into the NYC market was a little pre-mature.

Economics class? What's that? I think I slept through most of it. :buck::laff:

 

[mrivc211]

:rotfl::rotfl:


Was not expecting that!

You two get a room.

 

[kellwolf]

Eh, early retirements don't really make me think they're hurting. Hell, *I* took an "early retirement" package from SWA when I was on the ramp in 2004. Less than a year later, they had a hiring boom on rampers in MCO. It's to reduce short term staffing costs, and it works for the people that need it (like guys that needed the $$$ to finish up a CMEL and were planning on leaving FL anyway). I think SWA was just planning on more guys retiring despite the age 65 thing. With their retirements in the crapper (SWA only has a 401k retirement plan, so it's pretty much reliant on the stock market), they're hanging around longer than projected. So, SWA is trying to help show them the door. I don't think they're necessarily in "trouble" because of this. I think they're just trying to get their staffing in line with where it needs to be in the short term so they don't find themselves in trouble.

I do have to say that announcing PHL surprised the hell out of all of us working there when it was announced. We were expecting Allentown, Richmond or Savannah. All of those would have been in keeping with SWA's philosophy of serving smaller towns relatively close to major areas. LGA, BOS, IAD and even MSP are serious departures from that philosophy, and I don't know how it's gonna pan out in the long run. SWA flies into ISP b/c it's close to NYC and doesn't have the delays of LGA or JFK. Same thing with BDL and PVD in relation to BOS and BWI compared it DCA/IAD. To see them start flying into the airports they were purposely avoiding years ago just has me scratching my head.

 

[rd757]

CMH? They have quite a few ops out of there. That'd be like operating out of LCK...

RD

 

[braunpilot]

Heard rumors that SWA wanted to fly into Tunica because it's close enough to Memphis but nothing transpired from that I guess.

 

[BobDDuck]

I was on a SWA jumpseat last night (after getting bounced from F9 and two United flights) and the captain was pretty worried about what might happen if the group turns down the TA. He said it was mostly because of a huge sense of entitlement among a lot of their pilot group. Interesting conversation for sure. The FO was from the very last class hired (ex military herself) and was only slightly worried about getting booted.

 

[kellwolf]

Heard rumors that SWA wanted to fly into Tunica because it's close enough to Memphis but nothing transpired from that I guess.

That was the rumor. IMO, you'll never see SWA near MEM. Would take away too much revenue from LIT, BNA, JAN and BHM.

 

[mtsu_av8er]

CMH? They have quite a few ops out of there. That'd be like operating out of LCK...

RD

Non-stop to Vegas, baby - full planes!

 

[little_cricket]

I do have to say that announcing PHL surprised the hell out of all of us working there when it was announced. We were expecting Allentown, Richmond or Savannah. All of those would have been in keeping with SWA's philosophy of serving smaller towns relatively close to major areas. LGA, BOS, IAD and even MSP are serious departures from that philosophy, and I don't know how it's gonna pan out in the long run. SWA flies into ISP b/c it's close to NYC and doesn't have the delays of LGA or JFK. Same thing with BDL and PVD in relation to BOS and BWI compared it DCA/IAD. To see them start flying into the airports they were purposely avoiding years ago just has me scratching my head.

Actually, I think SWA is late going to the bigger cities. When they were the only LCC in town, it makes sense to go to secondary airports. But, they were slow to react to the competition like Jetblue and Airtran. SWA probably thought they would fail in those large airport markets, but instead they have thrived. And now, SWA is trying to regain some of what was lost. We'll see if it works... Could you imagine if SWA went to JFK before or at the same time as Jetblue?!

 

[kellwolf]

Actually, I think SWA is late going to the bigger cities. When they were the only LCC in town, it makes sense to go to secondary airports. But, they were slow to react to the competition like Jetblue and Airtran. SWA probably thought they would fail in those large airport markets, but instead they have thrived. And now, SWA is trying to regain some of what was lost. We'll see if it works... Could you imagine if SWA went to JFK before or at the same time as Jetblue?!

Remains to be seen. I can see going into a few larger areas. jetBlue goes into BOS and JFK, but that's really about it as far as congested airports go. LAX? Nope. They fly into LGB. It's all about city pairs in the LCC game, and maybe SWA's banking on that. What happens when you've got an airplane scheduled to go PHL-BWI-BOS-MCO-FLL. Odds are pretty good it'll be late outta PHL due to taxi lines, slowed down coming into BOS, maybe late getting outta BOS, and that puts MCO and FLL WAY behind. Make it something like PHL-IAD-LGA-BOS, and it's a recipe for disaster as far as on-time goes. If one leg gets behind, it causes a serious cascade downline unless you've got spare airplanes on the ground. SWA isn't big on airplanes sitting.

 

[braunpilot]

Remains to be seen. I can see going into a few larger areas. jetBlue goes into BOS and JFK, but that's really about it as far as congested airports go. LAX? Nope. They fly into LGB. It's all about city pairs in the LCC game, and maybe SWA's banking on that. What happens when you've got an airplane scheduled to go PHL-BWI-BOS-MCO-FLL. Odds are pretty good it'll be late outta PHL due to taxi lines, slowed down coming into BOS, maybe late getting outta BOS, and that puts MCO and FLL WAY behind. Make it something like PHL-IAD-LGA-BOS, and it's a recipe for disaster as far as on-time goes. If one leg gets behind, it causes a serious cascade downline unless you've got spare airplanes on the ground. SWA isn't big on airplanes sitting.

Last time that I talked to an SWA pilot he stated that their average stage length was over 2 hours and that was three years ago.