SWA has the best operation in a number of ways...corporate philosophy, management/employee partnership, etc.

But their actual operations are not so much better, as different. Their techniques fit well in a certain market niche, and it's a pretty fat niche at that. They are also very aggressive about implementing their method, which gets back to having employees who mostly care (about bonuses if nothing else).

But there are some things that SWA can't do as well as hub-and-spoke. My folks live in a smallish town in the Northwest, and despite flying once or twice each month for decades, I'm pretty sure that they have never been on a SWA flight.

In order to serve smaller towns or international markets, SWA would have to make some fundamental changes...and I give them a lot of credit for not going there lightly, since it could screw up their core business.