Southwest Airlines-36 Years of Profitable growth

Southwest Airlines is one of the world's most profitable airlines and in 2008 posted a profit for the 35th consecutive year - an unsurpassed record in the airline industry. Southwest’s market capitalization is more than that of combined market capitalization of its six big competitors. It is the largest
airline in the United States by number of passengers carried domestically per year and also the largest airline in the world by number of passengers
carried. Southwest has won the Triple Crown (best on time performance,
fewest complaints, and fewest lost bags) for 5 years in a row. Southwest
Airlines has never lay off a single employee ever and never had a labor
disruption.
Southwest's marketplace success has been sufficiently dramatic and visible
to inspire attempts by other airlines to adopt the Southwest model. However
Southwest has always sustained its Competitive advantage. In this project
the real reason behind its Sustainable Competitive Advantage has been
analyzed.
Southwest is able to offer lower prices due in large part to the highly
productive use of its major assets-its Aircraft and its People.

The secret of high productivity is the High Performance Relationships which are based on Shared Goals, Shared Knowledge and Mutual Respect.

Here an attempt has been made to understand the policies strategies and
techniques that have led to Southwest’s success through High Performance
Relationships and how these practices can be used for improving Efficiency
and Quality in the Airline Industry.