Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
Sailingfun,
You are spot on.
While articles are written about SWA's costs, are those writers sophisticated enough to compare similar operations? Ultra long range flying is a completely different model than shorter range domestic legs where sector costs and per trip costs mean more than CASM.
If we were to compare SWA to say, Comair, would we still enjoy a cost advantage?
If you are going to compare how airlines compete on a route for route basis you have to use like aircraft and stage lengths. Your correct that our widebody long haul has lower costs then shorter length flights on narrow body aircraft. That is why we need to compare ourselves to SW with like equipment. It also brings up the RJ issue which have a very high CASM on short flights. We won't compete with SW with RJ's on like routes.
SW costs are going up however Delta's costs are also going up and likely will increase faster then SW's costs. Their pilots and union are not comfortable with their current position at the top of domestic pilot pay scales. That is why they have made no real attempt to improve on 10 year old pay rates. They are not going to push for big raises.
Delta on the other hand I really hope is facing a major increase in pilot costs sometime around lets say 31 DEC 2012.