They began with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving three Texas cities- Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. In 1978, the airline began a slow and conservative expansion across the United States that began in the west and gradually spread to the eastern portion of the country. Just after the company’s 18th anniversary in December of 1989, Southwest Airlines reached major carrier status defined by the Department of Transportation. Southwest has developed into the largest low-fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier in the United States (swmedia.com). In 2011, Southwest Airlines celebrated its 40th anniversary of providing low-fare, high quality commercial air service, in addition to its 39th consecutive year of annual profit, making it the only major carrier in the United States to consistently provide annual profits to its shareholders (Southwest Airlines Annual Report, 2011).
History and Background WestJet Airlines is a low-fare company founded in 1996 by Clive Beddoe and a team of other partners including Tim Morgan, Don Bell, Mark Hill and David Neeleman. During its first years WestJet was focused on routes in western Canada especially in the city of Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Kelowna and Winnipeg but then during the early 2000s, it started expansion in Eastern Canada. From 2004 the company began its international expansion to the United States. Today, WestJet serves more than 70 destinations in Canada, the U.S, Mexico and the Caribbean, operating with a fleet of about ninety-nine Boeing 737s. Mission and Culture The mission of the company is to enrich the lives of everyone by providing safe, friendly and affordable air travel.
MINI CASE – Chapter 3 Ed Cowan was recently hired by Tuxedo Air Inc. to assist the organization with its financial planning and to evaluate the organization's performance. Ed graduated from university six years ago with a finance degree. He has been employed in the finance department of a TSX100 company since then. Tuxedo Air was founded 12 years ago by friends Mark Taylor and Jack Rodwell. The organization manufactured and sold light airplanes over this period, and its products have received high reviews for safety and reliability.
Financial Analysis of Southwest Airlines DeVry University ACCT304 February 18, 2012 Financial Analysis of Southwest Airlines Table of Contents Intro 3 Related Party Transaction 3 Assets 3 Liabilities 4 Trend in Assets and Liabilities 4 Cash Flow Statement 5 Investing Activities (largest) 5 Operating Activities (trend) 6 Income Statement 6 Net Income (trend) 7 Comprehensive Income 7 Common Stock 7 Separately Reported Items 8 Conclusion 9 Financial Analysis of Southwest Airlines Intro Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) has been providing exemplary service for 40 years. It was established in 1971, and is now the nation’s largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded serving 73 cities in 38 states (Southwest Investor Relations: Company Profile). On May 2, 2011, Southwest and AirTrans Airways merged, and now is in charge of its operations. It is known for its low-fares and no-fee baggage policy, but most importantly, they are known for having the best customer service records. “Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet.” (Southwest Investor Relations: Company Profile).
Its first scheduled service began in October, 1999, connecting Las Vegas and Fresno, California with a Douglas DC-9-21 and DC-9-51 aircraft. By December of 2000 Allegiant Air had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. A new management group was put into place and the company had a dramatic turn around going from two destinations to over 70. Allegiant prides itself on
(Isadore) Furthermore the recession had seriously reduced both vacation and business travel. (Adams) Management expects the merger to achieve synergies to make the companies more profitable in the future. Management believes that, “Northwest's fleet lets Delta choose from a bigger menu of jets seating 175 to 400 fliers. We can move these aircraft around the globe — from the Pacific to Africa, for example — and put those in the right spot," Delta Senior managers believe, "Delta and Northwest are a perfect fit," and the new combined aviation firm could create, “the opportunity to have the No. 1 or No.
Bombardier diversified in 1986 by purchasing CanadaAir, “the leading Canadian aircraft manufacturer of Challenger wide-body business jets and the CL-215 amphibious firefighting aircraft” (History, 2012); in 1990 the company branches out to America through Learjet Corporation and released the first midsize jet (ranked as a top seller); they again hit a home run through purchasing Boeing’s de Havilland division—this placed them as leaders in regional aircraft (History, 2012). 2000 they attain Skyjet.com, expanding it to international boundaries in 2005 “giving travelers unrestricted access to more than 900
WestJet's corporate culture focuses on this idea. Every year, WestJet receives “118,000 applications for the 1300 jobs advertised” (Parker 2010), making them one of the most sought after Canadian businesses to work for. One of the chief reasons for this is WestJet's culture and importance of teamwork which is evident in “the accessibility of senior executives and the opportunity for staff to speak their mind on any issues” (Parker 2010). WestJetters are trusted within the organization to solve their own problems based on what they think best aligns with the company's core values. This trust ensures WestJetters feel pride in the work they accomplish and increases their loyalty to
JetBlue Airways IPO Individual Case February 5, 2013 JetBlue Airways, IPO Valuation Statement of problem JetBlue airways are a low cost airline established in July 1999 by David Neeleman. Neeleman, was very experienced in the operations of airlines and start up airlines, having previously started his own small airline company. JetBlue Airways is a new and low-fare airline that promised to “bring humanity” to air travel back in 1999. Their primary goal was provide high-quality customer service for passengers flying in new aircrafts that had leather seating, reliable performance and simple low fares. JetBlue in April 2002 thought that it needed to raise equity by issuing an IPO in order to allow the company to expand.
Introduction Southwest Airlines has an incredible success story for a commercial air carrier. They are the most profitable airline with the highest customer satisfaction rating in their industry (Landes, 2008). This is accomplished by doing things simple and smart; and it all starts with their employees (Southwest refers to them as their “people”). The ‘simple’ is that Southwest typically flies point-to-point destination, low fare, low frill, short haul flights, among 59 cities in the Unites States (Freiberg, 1996). They also only use one type of aircraft (Boeing 737 series), which cuts down on maintenance costs.