Reference no: EM132990700

Southwest Airlines Co. ("Southwest") is a major domestic airline that provides primarily short haul, high-frequency, point-to-point, low-fare service. Founded in 1971 and headquartered in the US, Southwest is a large low-cost airline. Airlines rely on key inputs such as aircraft, fuel and labour in order to operate. Like any airline it is sensitive to jet fuel prices and other operating costs. FORTUNE has listed Southwest Airlines among America's Top Ten most admired corporations and previously ranked Southwest Airlines in the top five of the "Best Companies to Work For" in America. Today Southwest operates over 500 Boeing 737 aircraft in 66 cities. Southwest has among the lowest cost structures in the domestic airline industry and consistently offers the lowest and simplest fares. Southwest also has one of the best overall Customer Service records. The company is committed to provide its employees with a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth; there are more than 35,000 employees throughout the Southwest system. The airline is unionized (heavily unionized when compared with other US airlines). In 1995, Southwest became one of the first airlines to have a web site. In 2006, 70 percent of flight bookings and 73 percent of revenue was generated from bookings on southwest.com. After providing customers with the opportunity to book tickets online, Southwest Airlines found it then had too many call center agents.

List/ summarize the factors influencing the decision at Southwest Airlines: what would your decision have been?