Southwest Airlines has been the most successful airlines in the United States and has been

profitable for the last 30 odd years. Though most the strategies followed by Southwest are
known and replicated by other airlines, none of the competitors have been able to replicate its
recipe for success. For years the focus of Southwest has been on the following points:-
· Operational efficiencies: The company managed to achieve outstanding operating structure
primarily adhering to the following points:-
o Using underutilized airports to avoid congestion with other airlines and lower
usage fee
o Eliminating cost incurring redundant procedures like seat allotment system and in-
flight meals
o Using only a single type of aircraft to keep low maintenance cost
· Low cost structure: The company has been notoriously known for years to maintain extremely
low costs associated with flying aircrafts. Around 60% of the costs of flying of any aircraft are
associated with fuel costs. Southwest has been known to for years very successfully hedge oil
safeguarding them against subsequent rises in oil prices allowing them to keep a low cost
structure leading to the airline being able to maintain higher profit margins
Despite knowing their trade secret and having known it for years, why have other airlines in the
industry that have gone to lengths to implement the same strategies not been able to follow the
success which Southwest enjoys?
The answer lies in the practices that are less evident to notice and a lot harder to replicate – the
HR and people practices followed at Southwest Airlines ad the relationships that the company
has fostered with its employees.
In the book “The Southwest Airlines Way” written on the relationship practices followed at
Southwest, Jody Gittell discusses the practices that have lead to Southwest becoming the
behemoth of the airlines industry.
Primarily she discusses the following reasons for success at Southwest Airlines:-
· 10 practices that help the airlines build a strong relationship with its employess
· An environment that helps the airlines to build a common goal between itself and the
employees
· A strong set of communication techniques that help the airlines ensure that the right message is
passed down to its employees
The principles shown above work well only when they are implemented in unison since the
principles complement each other. They require a lot of changes within the organization
structure and the way the organization functions on a daily basis.