Big interview
Left: Southwest is committed to using any gate it acquires.
Opposite: Robert Jordan in the cockpit with Southwest crew.
In 2022, to give one example, Forbes proclaimed the Dallas airliner one of the best places to work in the US, the seventh year in a row it did so. And as Kelleher so vividly implied, and Jordan agrees, keeping passengers pleased would be impossible if check-in agents or flight crew weren’t themselves keen to help. “It means they have a heart for service, they have a heart to serve our customers – but they also have a heart to serve each other,” is how Southwest’s current CEO puts it. “Most of the time, what I hear about… a terrific service experience comes down to this, it comes down to your people are just nicer, they’re happy, they’re funny, they’re friendly, they helped me out.” Altogether, these principles have seen Southwest soar from a small regional airline into a major industry player, now boasting dozens of domestic destinations, even as it stretches out across the western hemisphere. That’s shadowed by other investments, from new aircraft to larger overhead bins. And if the old focus on smiling faces hasn’t gone away, it makes sense that such a vast operation must equally rely on robust technology – especially when without it, things can quickly go wrong.
The aviator
Beyond his role as company CEO, Jordan is in an excellent position to reflect on how Southwest has grown to become the US’s third-largest aviator. A veteran at the firm, he started his career there back in 1988 and has since worked everywhere from corporate strategy to fuel management. Boosting his schedule yet further since taking the top job, Jordan says he’s visited dozens of Southwest sites over the past 18 months, talking to colleagues and understanding their needs.
Characteristically for a company built on cordial relationships, meanwhile, he argues that courtesy calls help explain Southwest’s rise. “I think it helps us a ton internally,” is how Jordan puts it. “Because the leadership team – you know each other, you have
Chief Executive Officer /
www.ns-businesshub.com
relationships with each other. And there’s just very little politics here, so you can move through things and decisions and activities very quickly.” Certainly, this claim feels fair when you consider Southwest’s impressive growth over recent times. In 2022 alone, the operator hired some 1,800 pilots, with plans to scoop up 2,300 this year. That’s shadowed by new destinations. Flying to 18 new cities during the pandemic, the company equally aims to bolster services beyond the US, flying to Belize, Puerto Rico and Los Cabos from 2024.
“That’s the whole purpose for me – to really become a good bridge between China and the rest of the world.”
Once again, Jordan argues partnerships are key. Especially with airport slots in short supply – a couple of takeoff and landing spots at Heathrow were reportedly sold for $75m in 2016 – he suggests that “having a relationship at an airport” can be really helpful. How Southwest itself behaves matters too. “When we make a commitment to build a facility, acquire gates, use the gates,” Jordan says, “we live up to that.”
From there, all those new destinations need passengers to travel there – and staff to greet them. With that in mind, Jordan eagerly returns to his favourite Kelleher mantra. “Our folks do incredibly heroic things,” he says, describing how, upon hearing that a customer’s mother was in a faraway hospital, a Southwest representative offered to collect them at the airport.
It goes without saying, of course, that every multinational has stories like this. But beyond mere anecdotes, and as that flurry of industry awards implies, there are hints that Southwest really does offer more than the competition. This is true of price: Jordan and his team run the only large US
7 Forbes $23.8bn
Southwest’s 2022 operating revenues, making it the US’s third-largest airline.
Southwest Airlines Co 9
The number of years in a row that Southwest Airlines has been recognised as one of the US’s best employers.
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