Southwest and other airlines took a bit of a hit in their fuel hedging over the last quarter due to lower than expected oil prices.  This resulted in a loss for SWA that otherwise would have been a profit and the loss is a paper loss at that. 

In reviewing the company’s performance as well as taking a view on the near and medium term future, CEO Gary Kelly actually sounded downright positive on the whole.   With some emphasis on caution, Kelly seems a positive future for Southwest and says that business bookings have remained stable and revenue growth is downright sweet. 

Good to hear. 

What I haven’t heard yet is a plan for handling the issues a 600+ aircraft airline should be doing with excellence.  For instance, why not illuminate folks on what the plan is for a new reservations system that will accomodate things like, you know, code shares that you have with partner airlines. 

Where will Southwest grow next?  The Airtran purchase is growth but not growth beyond the two combined companies.  In fact, we already know that there will be some contraction as a result of that purchase.  What’s the next Southwest adventure when it comes to routes?

And what is Southwest doing to prepare itself for 2014 in Dallas?  Dallas is a metroplex area with more than 6 million people in its catchment area.  Southwest manages to capture a nice portion of the eastern half, yes.  But in 2014, the gloves come off at Love Field with respect to non-stop flights to destinations in the continental United States.  Southwest will be restricted to operating from 16 gates at Love Field and that is not enough gates to serve everywhere people in the DFW area want to go.   (We’ll talk about this later this week.)

Southwest is an airline that generally keeps quiet until it really is ready for an announcement.  But this is *not* a small airline anymore and there is precious little conversation going on as to how SWA will manage itself in the future.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax