Southwest: Eggs
in the one basket problem — February 2020

Southwest is universally acknowledged as the prototype for LCCs throughout the world. It is a very robust prototype, having just produced its 47^th straight year of profitability, but the MAX is proving to be a big problem.

A central tenet of Southwest’s operating model has been adherence to a single aircraft type, bringing economies in terms of crewing, training and maintenance, simplifying scheduling and route development decisions, and obtaining very favourable pricing and conditions from the manufacturer in return for exclusivity.