Posted on 08/13/2003 5:51:33 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
Southwest Airlines Co., the largest low-fare carrier, flew more U.S. passengers than its competitors in May, the first time a discount airline has led the industry, the U.S. Department of Transportation said.
Southwest carried 6.5 million passengers in the month, compared with 6.3 million by Delta Air Lines Inc. and 6.2 million by American Airlines, the department said Tuesday.
"They're steadily increasing in numbers," Morten Beyer, chief executive of an airline consulting firm, said of Southwest. "They will be number one by any standard" by 2006 or 2007, said Beyer. Southwest is not a client of his firm, Morten Beyer & Agnew, based in Arlington, Va.
Southwest's ranking follows steady growth by low-fare carriers and declining dominance by network carriers such as American and Delta, the department said. Southwest, based in Dallas, ranked eighth in domestic passengers in May 1990 and third in May 2002, the agency said.
It reached No. 1 because it continued expanding while other carriers cut back, Beyer said. Based on miles flown by paying passengers, Southwest traffic rose 4.6 percent in the last quarter. Airlines overall had declining traffic in each month of the quarter, said the Air Transport Association of America, a trade group for major U.S. carriers.
The airline, along with JetBlue and Airtran, has captured customers by undercutting the fares of other carriers, such as United Airlines and American, on the most profitable routes.
The ranking includes passengers in the United States, so travelers on other carriers' overseas flights were excluded. Southwest flies only in the 48 contiguous states. The department's measure is "enplanements," so Southwest passengers flying from Baltimore to Los Angeles with one stop would be counted twice.
About 20 percent of Southwest passengers take more than one flight to reach their destinations.
By most other measures Southwest is smaller than the other top carriers. American has more total passengers and a lot more revenue -- $18 billion last year compared with Southwest's $5.5 billion.
But consultants said Southwest could compete soon for other top rankings.
"I didn't think they would overtake others in passengers quite this quickly," said Dan Kasper, a managing director for LECG consultants in Cambridge, Mass. "They're going to continue gaining share from others, and eventually they're going to pass a few of them in total revenue."
Top airlines in May
Rankings by U.S. passenger boardings. A passenger who takes a flight with one stop would count twice.
1. Southwest6.5 million
2. Delta6.3 million
3. American6.2 million
4. United4.7 million
5. Northwest3.5 million
6. US Airways3.3 million
7. Continental2.6 million
8. America West1.7 million
9. Alaska1 million
10. American Eagle1 million
Figures were rounded.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
The idiots at the other airlines keep giving money to Tom Daschle's wife, rather than actually do something useful like fight the unions or standardize more on their equipment.
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