It is a mistake when people say that fuel hedges "saved" SWA. The fuel hedges are permitting SWA to grow into exisiting and new markets with aggressive and consistent low fares making it difficult or expensive for the competition to defend. Without the fuel hedges, SWA would have higher fares to cover costs and been quite profitable, though having a less easy time growing other and new markets. They are using their present fuel hedges to establish and build their market. The fuel hedges didn't come for free either, SWA paid a lot of money for them plus there are tax angles. In summary, SWA would still have been profitable without the fuel hedges using a different strategy or business plan as someone else stated.
Last edited by Mach 84; 01-19-2006 at 12:04 PM.