Southwest Expands in MEM
 

Interesting. As soon as DAL starts de-hubbing MEM, Southwest adds a bunch of new flights in MEM. Wonder why they haven't done that in CVG yet?

Additionally, AirTran expands operations in Memphis with new nonstop flights between Memphis and Chicago (Midway), Baltimore/Washington, and Orlando, beginning Aug. 11, 2013. In Memphis, AirTran currently offers five daily nonstop flights to Atlanta.

And this is in the regional section why?

Because they are already in CMH, SDF, DAY and IND. All within 1 to 2 hours drive.

That's been their typical M.O.......viruses grow better in a vacuum and SWA spreads best in the vacuum left by the exit of others. Let's face it, they've become a formidable and powerfully strong disease, competitively speaking.

Why wouldn't it be? Southwest is a lot more regional than a lot of other regionals out there that have more pilots, fly to more countries, and have more airplane types.

Yeah, but it's similar in MEM too...LIT, BNA and JAN all within 1.5-3 hrs

....would you care to guess how powerfully competitive they've been in ATL recently?

You could ask the Aitran pilots who've seen their ATL departures fall 50% from their pre-merger peak.

Or you could ask people in cities like MIA.. CLT.. IAD.. DFW.. SRQ.. TYS.. HPN.. MDT.. HSV.. etc, etc what happened to their direct ATL serivce on SW/AT

A quick check of SWA's latest system traffic report for DEC2012 shows that passengers carried for DEC were down over 3%. PAX for the 4Q were down almost 4% and were also down 1% for the entire year.....and while most Delta pilots (including me) will complain about stagnation, Delta's latest System traffic stats released today show year over year PAX carried up nearly 1%.

The idea that SW is still a juggernaut growing like a weed is silly. They're a good solid company, but they're not out there grabbing market share like they used to. As with all mergers, 1 + 1 does not equal 2. At best, 1+1= 1.5

Agreed ... SWA is solid but they are not the growing power house they once were.

Except in Pittsburgh.....

I guess as long as you don't count wages, benefits, schedules, treatment of the labor, qualifications to get hired there versus your average regional, what the side of the airplane says versus who you bought a ticket on and just general quality of life, sure, Southwest is a regional.

They're still a regional.

They just happen to not be an outsourced contractor.

Theres a difference.

Diseases do not necessarily advance at a constant rate. It would be equally silly to make an assumption on the significance of a disease based on the current symptoms of the patient.

Nothing can grow in Pittsburgh. ;)

As much as I disagree with most of what you say, this post is so spot on!

It's fun to watch Delta guys toss dirt at SWA; all the while, they make less than SWA pilots across the board. Have for 12 years now.

Whatever helps you sleep good at night.

Many Delta guys toss dirt at all other airlines. Big head syndrome

Fixed your post.

And for how many years before bankruptcy did SWA pilots make less then Delta pilots? :rolleyes:

I wish my regional had FO pay that topped out at $151

12 years? no.

You took a dip below them in 2001-2002 didn't you?

Still haven't made it back.

The first concessions were in 04.

Spring of 2001 contract was signed that put a 777 CA at $319/hr. Concessions came a few years later. So, no.

9 years - my bad. Much better than 12.

Sure, SWA compensates their pilots well. But if it wasn't for their business model, the American public wouldn't expect/demand $69 air fares, thus putting downward pressure on legacy fares and legacy pilot compensation as a result.

I'm sure it does. Thats probably just per month, not per hour.

You failed to answer my question. But that's not surprising.

Honest question. How would you (or anyone) know when someones rate exceeds SWA? According to this website, our top CA is about 40 bucks higher than the top SWA CA. I don't know how accurate the conversion from TFP to hourly rate is. My question is, what are you basing your figures and assumptions on?

see the threads where the W-2 earnings are posted. Rates have nothing to do with it, since SW pilots get paid completely different. You can make more a hour, but if you average 65 hours, and someone else averages 160 "trip" hours, the pay will be different. But I conclude in looking at the W-2 earnings threads to get a better idea. Cheers!

Yeah rob, I understand the basics of the TFP. It was more a question to someone making claims they can't back up, and that current trends don't support.

He seems to think that SWA being paid higher than another airline makes the lower paid guy upset. I'm quite the opposite. I'm glad that they make more now. I wish UCal had blown us out of the water compensation wise. I hope that AA/LCC does. It's airlines that are way below average compensation (in all ares) and don't bargain up, that bothers me. SWA was that airline for many, many years. Now there are others that have filled the gap that SWA left. Hopefully the big airline's management teams have learned from the past and will act accordingly.

This whole site is getting pathetic. Something as simple as "Southwest adds flights out of Memphis" even becomes a bunch of guys comparing the size of their anatomy in the showers.

guys still do that? This is not a NAVY thread!