Good Thursday evening. This is Daniel Allott with The Hill's Top Opinions.
As Winter Storm Elliott has receded, most U.S. airlines have recovered after cancelling thousands of flights over the Christmas holiday.
But one airline is still struggling — Southwest.
The low-cost airline's problems today are related to what's made it so successful in the past, writes computer science professor SHELDON H. JACOBSON: its ability to turn its flights more quickly and efficiently.
"By getting just one extra flight per day out of each airplane, the additional revenue has been a driving factor to keep it profitable when other airlines struggled to stay in the black."
Such efficiency is usually an advantage. But it makes Southwest "more vulnerable to disruptions and even more difficult to recover after a major weather event," writes Jacobson. "Technology limitations only make the situation worse."
"This lack of robustness is one price to be paid for remaining profitable while other airlines have endured periods when making a profit was out of reach."
The question going forward is: Should Southwest abandon the strategy that had worked so well until last week?
No, writes Jacobson. But Southwest must invest in the tools and technical expertise necessary to facilitate quicker crew and equipment scheduling, particularly following disruptions such as extreme weather events.
Jacobson, founder professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says "Efficiency is a catalyst for profitability, while robustness is a driver for customer satisfaction. The two may sometimes be in conflict. Yet, both are needed, particularly in service industries like air travel."
Read Jacobson's op-ed here.
Not subscribed to The Hill's Top Opinions? Sign up here.
No comments:
Post a Comment