At the distinct risk of turning the Southwest Airlines blog in to a BILL-log (three blog posts from me in two weeks is bordering on overkill, I realize!)...there is news to share! Southwest is returning to San Francisco International Airport early this fall! This news was announced last night (February 8) by our CEO, Gary Kelly, at the Message to The Field in Oakland. We've been working on this for a while now, and we just couldn't be more excited to bring Canyon Blue back to the west side of the Bay.
Why go back to an airport we discontinued? Easy answer. Things change, and Southwest responds to changes! If you need proof of that, look at Denver, another city Southwest served, then discontinued--then started again, in response to changing conditions. In Denver's case, it was dramatically improved costs at the new airport, in combination with explosive growth in the local market. In SFO's case, costs again play a central role--the good people that run San Francisco International have done a great job in mitigating costs and keeping them low, and everyone knows costs are a key focus at Southwest. But it's not just about the costs this time--other good things have happened to make us reconsider serving SFO. Operationally, the airport is in significantly better shape than it was in 2001, which means we'll be able to run a much "cleaner" and more ontime operation than we did then. BART now goes directly into the airport, which means West Bay residents and visitors can get right into the heart of the City by the Bay in just "one seat." We now have the ability to grow at SFO, whereas before we no way to expand beyond our 14 daily flights. And, the Bay Area's population just continues to grow by leaps and bounds--all of which makes our return to the busiest airport in the region a no-brainer.
What does this do to our service at Oakland and San Jose? Three word answer: makes them stronger. By serving the Bay Area more completely, we make Southwest more convenient to Customers flying to or from the area. As California's largest intrastate carrier, offering more options for the traveling public just makes our entire Bay Area franchise even more viable. Now this is nothing new--Southwest has always persued a "serve the region" strategy in population-dense areas where airports aren't restricted. Just look at Southern California--we serve four airports just in the Los Angeles area alone. In the DC area we're now in both BWI and Dulles. And in South Florida we're in both Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood and West Palm Beach.
I can't tell you where we'll be flying from SFO just yet, but trust me, you're going to like this. We're BACK, West Bay! And a quick trivia question: Am I the only person on this planet that remembers the T.V. series. "San Francisco International Airport" from the '70s, starring Lloyd Bridges? Heck, they're remaking everything these days--maybe there could be a reality T.V. show based on Southwest Airlines and our awesome Employees working at a major international airport!
On second thought...never mind about the T.V. show. Been there, done that.
Happy Valentines Day, everyone!
As Bill mentions, we do sometimes announce news at a Message To The Field. For more information on the Messages, read James's post immediately below and Shelley's post about the preparations for the Message season.
Comments
What next? MIA, JFK, and ORD? Just kidding of course! I suppose the ATC delays in SFO are no worse than LAX and PHL, plus you guys need to go where the passengers and associated revenue are. Considering that SFO is still not immune from ATC delays, will you place any slack or buffer time in the schedule time to account for possible delays? Our office runs a lot of corporate clients through SFO, so I know the delays are still around to a certain extent, though IÃ
how about IAD -SFO? cause i can't figure out what ceo mr. kelly is doing with IAD?
We weren't expecting to announce a city in 2007. I wonder if Virgin America's attempt to fly out of SFO has anything to do with this announcement? :)
"persued" "pursued" "pirsued"--Hmmn--now which is it? ;-)
I think it's funny that the press releases and post here on the blog refers to the Peninsula as the "west bay". San Francisco is "The City" and it is on the Peninsula!
I think it's great that Southwest is making it's presence in SFO again! It sure will be better for all travellers!
Why is it that SWA can find enough planes to add flights to SFO but after nearly a year and a half has not restored the direct flights between Birmingham and New Orleans? SWA continues to give lip service to saying they care about customers and are committed to helping New Orleans, but the actions prove otherwise.
I find this fascinating. Are times really changing? It seems like Southwest is starting to serve every city in a metropolitan area, contrary to its past. Does this signal the possibility of Southwest beginning service to Boston-BOS, Chicago-ORD, Dallas/Ft Worth-DFW, Houston-IAH, Miami-MIA, or New York-EWR, JFK, or LGA?
After glancing at a few statistics, I do see a need for Southwest at San Francisco. The average fare between San Francisco and Los Angeles is currently $157.80, a sharp contrast with the average fare between Oakland and Los Angeles--$106.70. And there are 2,117 passengers daily on that route. I can see some profits there. Same thing with the San Francisco-San Diego route. The average fare between San Diego and San Francisco is $177.41 and the average fare between Oakland and San Francisco is $116.05. And there are 840 daily passengers on that route (statistics came from the Department of Transportation for the second quarter of 2006, the latest for which data is available). I recently read an article in the Cincinnati Inquirer which said that the five airports in the United States with the most expensive average fares are Charleston, South Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; Huntsville, Alabama; Knoxville, Tennessee (NO DOUBT); and San Francisco, California.
But the average fare between San Francisco and Phoenix and Las Vegas is within $5 of the average fares between Oakland and Phoenix and Las Vegas. Wouldn't the extra costs and the extra wait time for take-off quickly at San Francisco quickly make up that cost?
By the way, Bill, I am in highschool and my dream is to work at Southwest's headquarters. Your job seems fascinating. What majors/colleges would you recommend? Southern Methodist University seems attractive since it is so close to Dallas Love Field. I would enjoy working with Southwest (such as a check-in or ramp agent) while I attend college.
Welcome back to SFO. I am sure you guys thought this through. There were so many other cities to choose from, cities that are starving for your service. Well i hope you are successful in SFO. Please offer I direct flight from ABQ..... You guys still won't offer non-stop flights from ABQ TO DEN.. Why???????????????????????????????????
Its great that SWA is open enough to "re-discover" cities that we once serviced. Perhaps there will be additional existing and new cites that will "fit" with SFO while adding to the route map!
Great news! Now, let's work on EWR or ACY (I know, they are considered PHL markets, but your examples show you can support more than one in each area).
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