This NY Sunday Times article provides a good overview of the challenges that Southwest Airlines faces in the rough and tumble airline business as its fuel hedging strategy (noted in earlier posts here and here) fades and it faces the prospect of dealing with the higher fuel prices that its less-liquid competition has been dealing with over the past year and a half.
The analysis of Southwest’s business prospects is interesting, but even more so is the blurb at the end of the article that Dallas, Southwest’s home base, is not being particularly supportive in Southwest’s effort to have Congress repeal the Wright Amendment (earlier posts here, here and here), which restricts Southwest’s routes in and out of its Dallas Love Field hub. The article notes that, if the Wright Amendment is not repealed, it makes sense for Southwest to look for a new corporate home where their business is growing as opposed to the restricted nature of its current Dallas operation.
Mayor White, get on this one — Southwest Airlines in Houston is a natural fit.