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SWA to the UK?

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Be Careful What You Wish For.

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From the SWA forum.
"Southwest Airlines, the American pioneer of no-frills travel, signalled its intention to start flying to the UK."
Can we compete? "Project High Ground Part Deux?.
 
PineyBob said:
Well ONE thing we know about SWA is if they do decide to go Trans Atlantic they will do their homework and do it right.
Click to expand...
Could you be more specific about "doing it right".
If you mean SWA will have business class with all the amenities that you complain US Airways doesn't have...it's not going to happen.
SWA is all about putting asses in seats just like any other low fare carrier. Ok you may get the flight attendants to sing and play bingo with you or whatever SWA f/a's do. Face it Piney...US Airways wants to fly maximum revenue for lowest cost. As long as they continue to fill the 10,000 seats that will go cross the atlantic every day this summer...nothing will change. If you think SWA will have a more elite group of passengers you might want to look around at all the backpackers if you fly them. It's the price and price only for the masses.
 
Fixed Wing said:
Could you be more specific about "doing it right".
If you mean SWA will have business class with all the amenities that you complain US Airways doesn't have...it's not going to happen.
SWA is all about putting asses in seats just like any other low fare carrier. Ok you may get the flight attendants to sing and play bingo with you or whatever SWA f/a's do. Face it Piney...US Airways wants to fly maximum revenue for lowest cost. As long as they continue to fill the 10,000 seats that will go cross the atlantic every day this summer...nothing will change. If you think SWA will have a more elite group of passengers you might want to look around at all the backpackers if you fly them. It's the price and price only for the masses.
Click to expand...


I think piney's point is that SWA would never sell a product they never intended to deliver on. That is why you see a few businessmen and many backpackers, they were never promised a rose garden and they feel they got what they paid for.

US, on the other hand, promises a lot, charges less than SWA in many cases and delivers less (among other metrics, SWA on-time performance seems better than US). In fact, while SWA may cancel a flight or two, at the frequencies they implement, a passengers delay may last as much as two hours whereas US seems to have implemented the "Hey, same day service" business plan, as long as they can get you out before midnight, US is happy.
 
Be Careful What You Wish For. said:
From the SWA forum.
"Southwest Airlines, the American pioneer of no-frills travel, signalled its intention to start flying to the UK."
Can we compete? "Project High Ground Part Deux?.
Click to expand...

Articles:

From The Times April 14, 2007

Airlines scramble to be ready for a new era in international flights

David Robertson: Analysis

Southwest, which says that it is considering international services postopen skies, is the friendly face of low-cost travel. Ryanair is a coldly efficient money-making machine.

The arrival of low-cost carriers to drive down prices is bad news for the likes of BA. It is already losing money on economy-class tickets and open skies also threatens its profitable business class.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle1652515.ece

.....

From The Times

April 13, 2007

Transatlantic dogfight looms as Ryanair promises £7 fare to US

David Robertson, Business Correspondent


However, the real threat to all these operators will be if Southwest launches international flights, possibly through its code-share partner ATA.

Southwest said: “It is definitely something we are looking at.â€￾

The prospect of America’s and Europe’s largest budget airlines going head to head could mean that flights to New York will cost less than the trek to the airport.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle1647610.ece


.....


Air Transport

DATE: 11/04/07

SOURCE:Flight International

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary plans launch of transatlantic no-frills airline with fleet of 50 Airbus A350s or Boeing 787s

By Murdo Morrison and David Learmount in Dublin

With "the cheapest fare €10 ($12)", O'Leary expects the services, to secondary airports such as Baltimore, Providence in Rhode Island and New York Long Island Islip Macarthur "to be full". He expects sales of food, drink, duty-free goods and in-flight entertainment to be a major revenue earner.

However, the new airline will have a "premium class" pitched against "the best in the business" such as Virgin Atlantic.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/...leet-of-50.html
 
If I had to make a wild guess as to what WN would do for transatlantic service I would envision WN booking orders for the Dreamliner and doing it in an all coach configuration. They are afterall very important customers for Boeing. They probably also push very hard for the all composite replacement to the 737....hell, they'll probably be one of the launch customers whenever that bird goes from drawing board to production.

Also BWI would be a great hub for where the transatlantic service would originate. Maybe Also PVD or MHT.
 
CynicalResAgent said:
If I had to make a wild guess as to what WN would do for transatlantic service I would envision WN booking orders for the Dreamliner and doing it in an all coach configuration. They are afterall very important customers for Boeing. They probably also push very hard for the all composite replacement to the 737....hell, they'll probably be one of the launch customers whenever that bird goes from drawing board to production.

Also BWI would be a great hub for where the transatlantic service would originate. Maybe Also PVD or MHT.
Click to expand...
Is PVD and MHT capable of handling European flights?

And at BWI, is their A and B terminal capable of doing International as well? BWI would have to use the E Gates and transfering passengers would have to walk over to A/B, but that isn't bad at all, its a short walk. Their 737-700's should be able to do Ireland and Great Britian.

Also is their computers able to handle International travel. I believe there was an article several months back that the capablity wouldn't be available to WN till late 2008-2009.
 
BuffaloJoe said:
... Their 737-700's should be able to do Ireland and Great Britian....
Click to expand...
Highly unlikely. Although I believe the 737-700 is 180 ETOPS qualified, it would have to fly severely weight restricted, especially Eastbound. Further, the limited cargo capacity, when even compared to the 757-200, would make it difficult to compensate for a shortfall in passenger revenue on such a long route. It's more likely that if WN goes trans-Atlantic, it will use ATA and it's 757s, or even D10s/L1011s - at least until they (WN) can get something new from Boeing. Today, the only East Coast cities that both ATA and WN serve are LGA and DCA - neither of which can be used as a Trans-Atlantic departure point. Consequently, it seems that either ATA has to expand to BWI or elsewhere on the East Coast, or the service would need to start from further West. Too bad WN doesn't use PIT as a Focus city, since this could be a near perfect setup for them at a well designed, under utilized, less weather dependent airport. My guess is that WN/ATA will use BWI, however.
 
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