Posted on 01/28/2005 10:24:23 AM PST by ambrose
Jan. 28, 2005, 12:37AM
Southwest pulling out of Bush Airport
Carrier says it will focus its growth at Hobby
By BILL HENSEL JR.
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Southwest Airlines is pulling out of Bush Intercontinental Airport on April 2, citing continued losses at Houston's biggest airport.
The nation's low-fare leader is discontinuing six flights at Bush, where it originally began service in 1971.
Dallas-based Southwest said it will contact travelers already holding reservations for later travel dates and will accommodate them with flights out of Hobby Airport.
After an eight-year absence in the '70s, the carrier has continuously served Bush since 1980. Now its focus will be solely on Hobby, where it is the dominant carrier.
"With the continuing airline industry challenges, we cannot continue to serve two airports in Houston and realize the losses we have generated for years" at Bush, said Gary Kelly, Southwest's vice chairman and chief executive. "We are making an enormous commitment to Houston Hobby airport, making it the focal point of our future growth."
Kelly said earlier this month that the carrier may add flights at Hobby later this year, possibly to some new destinations.
"It is a growth market for us," Kelly said in reference to Houston during a conference call last week to report Southwest's earnings.
Southwest has 139 flights from Hobby and handles more than 80 percent of the passengers there.
Southwest on Thursday didn't disclose how much money it has been losing on the Bush service, for how long — or why.
However, its Dallas service faces stiff competition.
At Bush, all six of the carrier's flights go to Dallas' Love Field, where federal regulations restrict connections to airports in adjoining states. Additionally, Continental Express competes on the route since Bush is a hub for Houston-based Continental Airlines.
Southwest's 29 customer service, operations and ramp employees at Bush will be guaranteed jobs in the carrier's system, with the opportunity to work at Hobby if they want.
Hobby is Southwest's fifth-busiest airport, and its daily departures include 29 flights to Love Field. Several flights between Hobby and Love were cut last fall, but Kelly said the flights that will be added at Hobby will offset those.
Southwest has long preferred to fly out of smaller, close-in airports such as Hobby to avoid the costly flight delays that occur at larger airports.
In its 33-year history, Southwest has pulled out of only four other airports: San Francisco International in 2001, Detroit City Airport in 1993, Denver's Stapleton International Airport in 1986 and Beaumont/Port Arthur in 1980.
Although Southwest has continued to report profits during the past three years as the industry has struggled, the carrier has been trying to cut costs to offset higher fuel costs.
The first Houston flights Southwest actually made began at Bush, back in 1971, but the carrier moved service to Hobby the next year.
"After all," Herb Kelleher, co-founder of the airline, said at the time, "why should our customers have to drive 45 minutes to take a 40-minute flight?"
bill.hensel@chron.com
Aren't they supposed to keep at it and lose money year after year until they go bankrupt?
PING
Honestly, could they not have come up with a better title than this one?
I fly SWA out of Hobby once or twice a year, they practically own that airport.
Hobby Airport is Houston's Southwest hub and they had a very limted number of flights out of Bush, so what's the big deal here?
Nothing bad is happening to SWA as they are kicking everybody elses tail in the US airline industry and they fly American made planes unlike Jet Blue.
did you see this? they're pulling out of bush.
If Southwest won't service Bush, I expect someone else will.
As long as Southwest doesn't cut back on their food service.
Not if they are in the Woodlands they don't. I would think Southwest would stay in to serve this market...
It ought to be renamed Kelleher Airport.
Only if the leadership at Southwest were die-hard Communists and Socialists would they do so. Read the book Hard Landings by Thomas Petzinger for a more capitalist point of view on why airlines serve some communities and not others.
<< Aren't they supposed to keep at it and lose money year after year until they go bankrupt? >>
You missed the part where after their competent management has all passed on and they have grown to dinosaur size and have degenerated into Peter-Principled bureaucracies, their congresscritter has them "given" Fifteen Billion Dollars of the confiscated wealth of those who created and who own it -- which they then squander on every kind of assinine scheme they've hatched up with their mobbed-up unions -- and continue to lose money year after year until they go bankrupt.
It's Bush's fault
Southwest has been bally-hooing their INCREASED LEG ROOM lately. Huh? I fly this airline from time-to-time, and if there is more leg room, have they provided to us just how many additional microns of patellar comfort the new interiors provide?
As nearly as I can tell, the new leg room comes from thinner seatbacks. Maybe the discerning passenger can notice the additional room. I certainly do not.
And, along with using my Rapid Rewards Visa card, get lots of free vouchers. (No, I don't work for S-West). I'm just a satisfied customer. Also I appreciate this well-run American Capitalist company! They're a great example for these union-riddled whiney airlines back East who want hand-outs from the taxpayers to stay aloft.
Same here! I love flying on Southwest. They always manage to make the trips so much FUN. I guess I appreciate an airline with a sense of humor. :o)
That makes three of us. Southwest has ops down pat. I'm wheels-up Southwest whenEVER.
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