Southwest Airlines reports that it flew slightly less passengers than this time last year but managed to earn 18 to 19% more in revenue for each mile a passenger flew.  In other words, Southwest is doing better due to higher fares and fees. 

But wait, Southwest doesn’t charge bag fees, right?  Well, it charges $50 for the third bag and it does have additional fees for extra services such as priority boarding. 

Southwest saw just a 0.6% decrease in the number of passengers which is way less than most airlines.  It saw a considerably higher amount of revenue which is way better than most airlines.   It would appear that their strategy of no bag fees may in fact be working very well for them.  It’s time for legacy airlines to quit saying they see no evidence that their passenger counts are eroding.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
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