Category Archives: My Job

Southwest – AirTran Merger

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DISCLAIMER: Although I am a Southwest employee, I am just a lowly dispatcher and was not involved with this transaction in any way. The opinions expressed on AndyBox.com are solely my own and do not reflect the position of Southwest Airlines, its Board of Directors, its Leadership, or anyone else who has any authority whatsoever over anything.

I’m sure many of you heard last week about Southwest’s plans to acquire AirTran. In a nutshell, we’re buying them for a combination of cash and Southwest stock, and the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2011, assuming all the regulatory agencies bless it. After that, we will merge our operations with theirs over a two-year period. The airline will remain based in Dallas with Gary at the helm.

I am VERY excited about this acquisition. AirTran is a well-run and successful airline. A couple of my coworkers came from AirTran, and they are both excellent dispatchers and valuable assets to our team. Here are some of the key benefits I see:

  • Atlanta – As the world’s busiest airport and a major business destination, ATL has been a huge hole in our network for many years. However, it’s extremely difficult to obtain gate space there. By buying AirTran, we instantly get 30 gates.
  • Other New Destinations – AirTran serves several airports that we don’t serve. Some are domestic, such as Rochester, Wichita, Branson, and Memphis. Others are international, such as Nassau, Montego Bay, and Cancun. With the exception of DFW, we plan to continue serving all of these destinations, creating a formidable nationwide network. We also get additional slots at LaGuardia and new slots at Washington Reagan, which are both very difficult to obtain.
  • New Aircraft Type – AirTran flies both the 737-700, which we also fly, and the 717-200, which is new to us. We plan to keep the 717s, configure them with 117 all-coach seats, and use them in smaller markets that don’t need the size of a 737.

For me, the main differences will be new airports, a different aircraft type, and most importantly, new coworkers. Since most of the employees at both airlines are unionized, one of the toughest questions will be how to combine similar work groups with regard to culture and seniority. It’s up to the unions, not management, to work out how to combine the seniority lists. Although my pay shouldn’t change as a result of this merger, it could boost my seniority a bit, which would help when bidding for my schedule and vacation. My main concern is that all the different unions can work out agreements that everyone can live with. I look forward to welcoming the AirTran dispatchers to our office and will probably get to sit with some of them as a trainer.

For Further Reading:

Beardtober

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My office is sponsoring a contest this month called Beardtober. The premise is simple: the participating guys let their beards grow throughout October, and the best and worst beards at the end win prizes. The entry fees, and the opt-out donation for those who don’t want to grow, go to Vogel Alcove, a great organization in Dallas that provides day care to homeless children while their parents work or look for work.

Although I’m a better candidate for Worst Beard than Best, I signed up and haven’t shaved since Thursday. I might post pics here, but we have an official Beardtober website where you can follow everyone’s progress. Most of the “before” pictures are our company ID pics, some of which are really old. Mine is from 2001, when I still had hair. They gave me 15:1 odds.

A Larger Plane for SWA?

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Mockup of the 737-800 in SWA livery from Airliners.net. Note the slightly longer fuselage and additional overwing exit.

DISCLAIMER: Although I work for Southwest, I have no inside information about this project, only speculation, and any opinions I post here are solely my own and do not in any way represent those of Southwest Airlines, its Board of Directors, Employees, or Stockholders.

Today Southwest Airlines announced that it was considering the additional of a new 737 model, the larger 737-800. I have thought for years that such a move might be wise, so I’m thrilled to hear that we are moving forward. Since we announced it, I am 99 percent sure we’ll end up buying some, although I think (and hope!) there’s a chance we’ll get the even larger 737-900ER.

The -800 offers us two main advantages:

  • About 38 more seats compared to the -300 and -700 that make up the vast majority of our fleet (175 vs. 137)
  • Lower operating costs per seat-mile

If you’ve flown us recently, there’s a good chance you noticed that our planes are extremely full. Our network planners have done a great job of eliminating or rescheduling unprofitable routes to fill up our planes and make us more money. On some routes, especially the long ones, every flight on every day is almost completely full. We could easily add 20-30 people simply by making the seats available for sale.

Also, we now operate at two airports (Orange County and LaGuardia) that are slot-controlled, meaning we only have the right to operate a limited number of flights per day. We want to get slots at Reagan National as well but haven’t succeeded yet. A larger aircraft would allow us to carry more people with the available slots. At some other airports, we don’t have as many gates as we would like, which limits the number of flights we can operate. The -800 would provide a similar benefit in those situations.

Adding the -800 would add a bit of complexity, such as an extra flight attendant and fewer options for swapping aircraft, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. I am very excited about this possibility and hope to see a 737-800 in SWA colors in 2012.

Visit the Airliners.net discussion in case you want to read more.