Squallrider

Maybe they account a 100 for people that may leave for other places idk but that’s what I was told

Salukidawg

Never ever believe rumors from a Chief Pilot or Checkairmen. Airline Basics 101.

at6d

I’ve got 2100+ guys below me since December of 2015. FWIW, almost all company stated hiring numbers have been met or exceeded as far as I am aware since then.

I’d say odds are good for 600-700 next year.

full of luv

What?? I read NUTS! I thought SWA was built on the idea of serving the small outlying airports where they don't have to deal with the "big city" congestion. What about more service to BWI, BDL and LGB?

It's sarcasm for those who can't detect such.....

e6bpilot

I think the big 3 have learned their lesson when it comes to vacating gate space in premium markets. Besides, other than tweaking, we have pretty much got a domestic behemoth that runs on autopilot. We did just get a few DCA slots from Alaska, which thankfully created a nonstop to my commuter city. Small, incremental changes to the domestic market are going to be the future. The real challenge lies in growing an international product that appeals to both leisure and business travel and is reliable and low cost. Right now it is neither.

The next downturn will be different. Consolidation and capacity discipline are way different now than in the past. If anything, watch the likes of Sprit to grab up used airplanes and spare gates and make a run for it with a growth spurt.

Southwest is in a great position due to their domestic focus and smart spending habits, but somewhere along the line they crossed over from being a scrappy low cost airline to a giant corporation. Something will happen. Fuel will spike, a bubble will burst, people will fly less. It will be a stress test for the way we operate now vs ten years ago.

Opakapaka

End of September recurrent and told 743 total hired for 2018. 500-600 for 2019 and 500 upgrades.

Proximity

I agree with what you are saying, our domestic system is so large that any change would be incremental.


Southwest missed the opportunity to be big player in the North East by messing around with airports like BDL and ISP in the mid-2000s, and avoiding the big airports. On the east coast Southwest is a leisure airline. Currently there are no good opportunities to expand into premium hubs but if it were to happen I'm sure the company would prioritize that over international. However, international is the best space the company can expand into right now.


One thing I wish they would get more serious about is gaining international passengers originating outside of the USA. This is a big reason we are not in the Canada-Florida market.

OhSnapAF

Yup was just told the same.

RiseGuy

I was told going through initial (back in January) that the reason we serve primarily leisure destinations only, save for Mexico City is because as of until we activated our new reservation system, we couldn't (and still cannot) accept foreign currency. Each passenger must book a ticket originating in the US with a US credit card...the new system has that capability but has yet to be turned on, because as we all know, Hawaii is taking precedence for everything right now.

Once that calms down and gets underway, I'm sure we will see more and more destinations pop up that aren't for the sole purpose of taking us fat Americans to all-inclusives. MEX is currently a losing market because the planes are half or even less-than-half full since we can't accept any Mexican credit cards for passengers originating in MEX, but I guess the slots were up for grabs so we took them just to get our foot in the door.

Will be interesting to see where the MAX 7 takes us with it's touted range capabilities...potentially MCO/FLL/HOU - Deep south would be nice.

e6bpilot

Just about every flight I have flown to Mexico during peak travel has been packed to the gills. I had a line of MEX overnights last December and it was Mexinsanity every day.
The prior year when I was flying them a lot, we had crappy slots and they were mostly empty. We were also getting killed in SNA and SAT by Volaris, so they cut them out entirely.
Then last Spring I flew one passenger from CUN-FLL at 7am during the first month we had that flight. They were pretty stoked. I think the FAs just opened up the liquor kit and the front galley and told her to get whatever she wants.