Originally Posted by mike734
Ha, spoken like a true neophyte. (Although you're probably not) Both FedEx and SW have done their major growth. And, no job is stable in this industry. Other than that, your post is very helpful.
Sorry for sounding condescending, I'm just jaded.
Mike.........your're correct, I am no Neophyte..........22 year veteran.
While there are NO certainties in this industry, (Actually the one certainty is there is no certainty) I was speaking from a historical point of view. Both Southwest and FedEx have both "historically" offered a stable work environment. Both carriers have had both Boom hiring and trickle hiring, but continuous. FedEx went through a stagnation for a couple years after the Tiger's merger. Both company's have avg'd 5 years to CAPT. That has pretty much held true for the last 12 years. Neither has seen Bad times (so far, Knock on wood) but as you said that certainly could change. Prey tell it doesn't.
As far as growth being over......Fedex Intl growth is just starting. We can't carry all the stuff that is out there. We don't have enough lift. Many countries of the Worlds economies depend on FedEx as well as UPS for their commerce. China and India and Indonesia just to name a few. The growth opportunities are endless. Many of the World's factories carry no inventory at all and
depend on FedEx and UPS to deliver on a daily on-time basis. From the Pilot's standpoint we would like to secure better SCOPE language to guarantee we share in that growth.
From the SWA side..........time will tell. They have very a good product and have been very successful in their Niche and in how they run their business. Airlines are running record load factors and I don't see that changing , barring some Major castrophy either Financial or Natural disaster.........
You can't argue with SWA's success.
They have extremely low costs due to their high productivity. Their Pilots are now some of the highest paid (by default due to the industry devistation). Now that the Legacies have dramatically lowered their costs, this could certainly put some pressure on SWA........but in my opinion, unless the BIG boys go to a NO frills point to point service........they will never compete with SW on a leg per leg basis.
The Legacies INTL service is what is going to keep them prosperous, shown by the current expansion in international service at all the Legacies.
Nope there are no guarantees (are there ever in anything except death and taxes??).......but the Gist of this Thread was
"Which carrier should I go to.......SWA or FedEx"..................
Given the opportunity, I don't think one could make a wrong choice. It just depends on ones priorities and desires............