Southwest Is the Most Contrarian U.S. Airline and That’s Why It Always Wins
Photo Credit: Southwest employees at an event announcing its brand update last year. Southwest Airlines
Skift Take
By the standards of every other major U.S. airline, Southwest doesn't do anything right. Except prove them wrong on profits quarter after quarter after quarter.
You won't find Southwest Airlines flight attendants wearing hot pants or go-go boots anymore. And no one at the Dallas headquarters thinks the airline can turn a Boeing 737 in 10 minutes.
But more than four decades after its founding as quirky Texas upstart with just three planes, Southwest retains a contrarian streak. You may have to look harder to find it, but Southwest, the nation's largest domestic airline, still has its own style.
Though it competes with legacy airlines, Southwest has little in common with them. Perhaps that's why Southwest has been so consistent in making money. Despite giving passengers two free checked bags and other goodies, Southwest has reported record profits in each of the past nine quarters. From April through June, Southwest reported net income of $608 million, with an operating margin of 22.5 percent.
At the Global Business Travel Association conference in Orlando earlier this week, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly repeated a finding and said the a
