Originally Posted by
threeighteen
No coincidence, correct, however SWA seems to have 4 decades of consistent, measurable contract improvements in the same time period, which is also no coincidence. SWA has guppy captains earning what legacy wide-body captains do without having to wait 25-30 years to get to it.
Unique business model at the time (since copied), and they were well-prepared to grow post de-regulation because they were already up and operating.
Their model took off, and they capitalized after every down-turn so they could never plausibly ask their pilots for concessions (for a long time their corporate culture would have made that unpalatable anyway).
But I remember when SWA was not the preferred career-destination, that came about after 9/11 when the big boys went BK or suffered heavy concessions. Last man standing.
SWA is the poster-child for why de-regulation was a success.