Is there something Mobile can do to convince Southwest Airlines to serve Mobile?
Southwest makes decisions as they fit into the airlines strategy, and there is little a community can do to attract short of keeping them abreast of an expansive and growing economy. Southwest offers low fares because it has low costs, in part because they operate one type of airplane and fly them more hours each day, carrying more passengers, than other airlines. (Apologies to our friends at Southwest, we dont mean to diminish the contribution of creative marketing, distribution, scheduling and above all, the employees) That number of flights requires ~750,000 potential passengers in a new market. The Mobile market currently has 600,000 total passengers. However, we have worked closely with Southwest for 10 years and, hopefully, one day they may change their business model to fit cities Mobiles size. In fact, Southwest has been to Mobile to speak to our Air Service Task Force. Their message was clear there are things that can be done now to help improve our business case for Southwest
