0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

276 ● 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business
Service began June 18, 1971, and in 2010, the airline known for having
fun-loving flight attendants, continued expanding by announcing the
pending acquisition of AirTran.
“Our people were perfectly aware that our company could cease to
exist at any given time,” Kelleher told me when we met for an interview at
Bloomberg TV. “In that kind of environment, you come together as a band
of warriors.”
Customers still rave about the magic formula based on frequent, cheap,
no-frills service. Southwest Airlines flies over 100 million passengers a year
to 66 cities across the country, taking to the air more than 3,200 times a
day. Southwest also has one of the youngest fleets in the nation, with 500
jets. To reduce maintenance costs, it only buys 737s.
Not all the planes are khaki and orange. The fleet features three flying
killer whales, known as the “Shamu” aircraft. Lone Star One, painted
like the Texas flag, marks Southwest’s 20th anniversary. Southwest also
flies Arizona One, California One, and Silver One, the 25th anniversary
plane. The company’s Triple Crown One celebrated winning five consecutive
Triple Crown travel industry awards.
Since 1987, when the Department of Transportation began tracking
customer satisfaction statistics, Southwest has consistently led the entire
airline industry with the lowest ratio of complaints per passengers boarded.
(I was impressed when after a harrowing, post-blizzard trip across the
country, Southwest offered to FedEx our daughter’s lost suitcase to her
next stop. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option since her bag contained
all our holiday gifts. Jeanne spoke with a supervisor who agreed to send
a courier to deliver the bag from Boston’s Logan Airport to our home in
rural Vermont.)
In a cyclical and often depressed industry, Southwest has been profitable
more than 30 years in a row. By having passengers line up in groups
to board, but not assigning seats, ground crews can turn around a flight in
20 minutes or less. Southwest now offers early boarding for an additional
fee. Whenever possible, the crew opens both the front and back doors to
get people on and off faster. They also save money by serving peanuts or
pretzels and a limited selection of beverages.
Today, Southwest Airlines is still considered to be one of the best companies
to work for in America. It pays to be a maverick.