Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airline in Baltimore
Assignment Questions
1. How does Southwest Airline (SWA) compete? What are its advantages relative to other airlines? Draw an influence, i.e., cause-and-effect, diagram to explain the company’s competitive advantage.
2. The plane turnaround process requires coordination among twelve functional groups at SWA to service, in a brief period of time, an incoming plane and match it up with its new passengers and baggage for a prompt departure. Please evaluate the plane turnaround process at Baltimore-resource utilization, capacity, bottlenecks, information flows, etc. How is the process working?
3. Why is the operational performance at Baltimore eroding? What issues do you identify that require action? Use the influence diagram, if useful.
4. What would you recommend Matt Hafner do?
Pilots
Flight attendants
Gate agents
Ticket agents
Operations agents: manage the coordination of each flight turnaround
Ramp agents
Baggage transfer agents
Cargo agents
Mechanics
Fuelers
Aircraft cleaners
Caterers
Arrival of flight 110
Ops coordinator receives in-range call from Flight110, about expected arrival time and weight of remaining fuel onboard, and then assign gate number
Ops agent attached the fuel invoice, cargo bin loading schedule
Gate agents opens the gate for check-in an hour before the originally scheduled departure time
Ramp supervisor identifies connecting flight passengers and bags
Transfer driver responsible for bags connecting to another flight. Local driver moved bags to baggage claim for Baltimore as final destination. Lav driver drained the restroom receptacles
Lead agent is responsible for the carts and reported bag counts in the cargo bin loading schedule
Bin agent worked inside cargo bins loading and off-loading baggage and cargo
Lead agent check the cargo bin loading schedule and finds hot bags
Bin agent moved a conveyor belt vehicle into the place between the fuel and provisioning truck, stage empty
Assignment Questions
1. How does Southwest Airline (SWA) compete? What are its advantages relative to other airlines? Draw an influence, i.e., cause-and-effect, diagram to explain the company’s competitive advantage.
2. The plane turnaround process requires coordination among twelve functional groups at SWA to service, in a brief period of time, an incoming plane and match it up with its new passengers and baggage for a prompt departure. Please evaluate the plane turnaround process at Baltimore-resource utilization, capacity, bottlenecks, information flows, etc. How is the process working?
3. Why is the operational performance at Baltimore eroding? What issues do you identify that require action? Use the influence diagram, if useful.
4. What would you recommend Matt Hafner do?
Pilots
Flight attendants
Gate agents
Ticket agents
Operations agents: manage the coordination of each flight turnaround
Ramp agents
Baggage transfer agents
Cargo agents
Mechanics
Fuelers
Aircraft cleaners
Caterers
Arrival of flight 110
Ops coordinator receives in-range call from Flight110, about expected arrival time and weight of remaining fuel onboard, and then assign gate number
Ops agent attached the fuel invoice, cargo bin loading schedule
Gate agents opens the gate for check-in an hour before the originally scheduled departure time
Ramp supervisor identifies connecting flight passengers and bags
Transfer driver responsible for bags connecting to another flight. Local driver moved bags to baggage claim for Baltimore as final destination. Lav driver drained the restroom receptacles
Lead agent is responsible for the carts and reported bag counts in the cargo bin loading schedule
Bin agent worked inside cargo bins loading and off-loading baggage and cargo
Lead agent check the cargo bin loading schedule and finds hot bags
Bin agent moved a conveyor belt vehicle into the place between the fuel and provisioning truck, stage empty