Airline analyst says passengers will back Southwest
Southwest Airlines enjoys strong brand loyalty among its passengers and is likely to lose little business as a result of last Friday's emergency landing of a jet with a hole torn in its roof, according to a veteran industry observer.
But what do you think?
Tom Parsons, chief executive officer of Bestrates.com, which tracks airline industry trends, said that even with last week's incident and the subsequent cancellation of hundreds of flights, Southwest still has one of the strongest safety records in the industry.
"I think you're playing Russian roulette if you think one airline's safer out there than Southwest," Parsons said. He added that the Southwest crew reacted professionally after the incident, in which one of the airline's Boeing 737-300s developed a hole in its fuselage while in the air over Arizona, and landed the plane without an injury.
"They did everything right when something went wrong," Parsons said.
Parsons said Southwest enjoys strong brand loyalty as a result of customer-friendly policies on fees and handling complaints.
"They still have cash in the bank and they're one of the few airlines that's had a profit for 30-some straight years," he said.
The question is whether Southwest can continue to enjoy that support after a week of reports about cracks in the fuselage of the damaged aircraft and several others.
If you're a regular Southwest flier, Getting There would like to hear from you about BWI's dominant carrier. Are you keeping the faith or has your confidence been shaken.
Please contact Michael Dresser at michael.dresser@baltsun.com or at 410-332-6175.
