This interesting photo from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University just landed in our inbox. Seems when Southwest CEO Gary Kelly stopped in recently to share words of wisdom with OSU MBAs and aviation students, a familiar face was in the crowd. Says our tipster:
In the back row of the photo you can make out Bill Diffenderffer. Seems a little late for him to be learning how to run an airline.
It was just less than a month ago that CNN called out Southwest Airlines for irregular safety inspections on its 737s. Since then, Planegate has continued, and even spread to just about every other airline.
United is the latest carrier to have trouble, pulling its 777s from service for fire system checks today. Before that, it was Delta and American grounding MD-80s for wiring troubles. And how can we forget the US Airways plane that lost a piece of its wing on the way to Orlando. (It wasn't the same flight that featured a gun discharging in the cockpit.)
Well it's all just a warm up for tomorrow: Southwest CEO Gary Kelly is among the folks who'll be testifying in front of Congress about plane safety on Thursday. Tune in to watch Rep. James Oberstar chew everyone out!
Early this week Southwest Airlines went on a PR offensive to assure everyone that the carrier's 737s were--and are--safe. But since CEO Gary Kelly made the media rounds, Southwest has grounded 42 38 planes and place three employees on leave in connection with safety oversights.
Meanwhile, the FAA is looking to nail the carrier with a $10.2 million fine because Southwest didn't comply with so-called airworthiness directives. Two FAA employees that claim to have documents proving the airline messed up have been subpoenaed by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Committee chair (and Jaunted frienemy) Rep. James Oberstar has vowed to get to the bottom of this. He's scheduled a hearing for April 3.
Btw, 42 38 planes is almost 10 percent of the Southwest fleet. Better reconfirm those reservations!
We certainly have an obsession with interviewing travel trendwatchers like Peter Greenberg and airline CEOs like Fred Reid. Sadly, we can't score all the gets. But we can tell you what Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly had to say in a recent interview with The Dallas Morning News.
Most importantly for his company, Kelly says Southwest is ready for high fuel prices and an economic slowdown--both definite possibilities for next year:
We've got a great fuel hedge this year. It's not quite as good next year, but it's still very good and certainly provides us tremendous protection. We're 70 percent hedged next year at about $50 a barrel...We've slowed down our growth to be prepared for a more difficult economic environment next year...In terms of the fleet, that will be a net of between five to 10 airplanes.
That puts Southwest at odds with European low cost carriers--and the newest point-to-point LCC in the States, Skybus, who's busy adding lots of new routes and new planes. While Kelly doesn't name names, he does say:
We are not going in a direction like some of our European counterparts who, they don't capitalize "C" in customer, I assure you. It's just a very different approach. It's a desire to be cheap at all costs. And that's not who we are or where we're coming from.
With ruthless competition between price point and customer service, looks like Kelly could be right when he says, "It'll be an interesting 2008." If you wanna talk travel with us, Gary, be in touch!
Passengers have all sorts of takes on Southwest'snew fare system and its new boarding procedure, and though the reaction so far doesn't sound too, too critical to us, maybe CEO Gary Kelly hears something we don't.
To preemptively stamp out passenger concern--and show how hip to technology he is--Kelly's taken to YouTube to explain why Southwest is shaking things up. Luckily for him, the video isn't an emotional apology for massive service disruptions.
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