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Southwest and Continental scal back.

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At the end of 2007 Southwest had 520 aircraft with an average age of 9.4 years. One way to keep maintenance expenses low would be to upgrade its fleet and Southwest is going to retire oler planes faste and take new ones from Boeing plants. Ths year it will take 22 new planes and this should accelerate. Outsourcing maintenance is less likely in the new climate of inspections after recent lapses.

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Southwest has gained customers as other airlines are exiting some of its routes completely or if still competing charging for bags which Southwest doesn't.Still Southwest is moving cautiously in what it sees a weak economy in 2009 and 35% higher fuel bill in 2008 in the second quarter 2008 even after hedging 80% of its fuel bill. So capacity growth plans have been trimmed to just 2% in the third and 1% in the fourth quarter for the USA's largest airline by passengers carried.

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Southwest airlines grounded part of its Boeing 737 fleet to conduct safety inspections.

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Deeper problem's in FAA's oversight as Southwest planes had the kinds of cracks the inspections were supposed to uncover.

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Southwest will keep its open boarding process and continues to see it as an advantage to get boarded and upa and flying quicker, but will make slight changes like putting a number on the boarding pass so that passengers know where they are in the line.

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Accident investigators for the Ethipian and Lions Air crashes say Boeing faile to inform FAA safety inspectors and Southwest safety specialists of the deactivation of a feature that warns pilots about malfunctioning sensors. The new models of the plane had this feature made optional in a new automated stall prevention system called MCAS. Southwest Airlines management and pilots did not know about this in 2017 a year after the planes went into service, and learned about this only after the Lions Air crash in October 2018. After the crash of Lions Air plane Southwest had asked Boeing to activate the alerts on its MAX planes.

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For what a ruble buys in Russia , 2.7 times what a dollar buys in the US, Russia gets alot of bang out of its defense budget of $149 billion, about $401 billion (Purchasing power) compared to US $997 billion. Add to this Russia is now a war economy in the war with Ukraine and concentrates its forces in one theatre not four as the US spread out over Indo-Pacific, Europe and Middle East and Korean peninsula. This is the reason behind most of DJT's actions reflecting realities in defense. Shut down the Middle East theatre which is also what the American people want by moving everything in the direction of economic progress, turning down the revolutionary and sectarian ideologies that roiled Egypt of Suez, Iraq and Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 60's and dragged the world into costly insane wars. And do this with the consensus of Russia, China and India. Wind down the war in Europe- accept the Russians as a Northern European power with a settlement of the Ukraine conflict, and let Germany lead Europe's defense. Manage the relationship in the Indo-Pacific with India and South and Southwest Asian investments in economic infrastructure that will offset China's rapid growth of the last three decades by incentivizing South Asia and South western Asia parts of which were called the Middle East by the Britons and now can be rengaged in the South /Southwest Asian group of nations led by the US. This is the policy for the next 25 years to 2050 that a Russia, Germany, US, China, India consensus sees as a constructive future for the people of the world.   ...

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United Airlines incurred a loss of $779 million in the third quarter of 2008 largely because of a$519 million charge to reflect the declining value of its hedging contracts for jet fuel. SOuthwest said it lost $120 million, its first loss in 17 years, because of its own charge of $189 million for hedging contracts declining value. Without htis Southwest would have earned $69 million.

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Delta, Southwest, and United executives say they will continue to maintain the discipline in managing capacity that they have exercized in 2010-2011. Delta plans to extend a 4-5% fourth quarter 2011 cut in capacity into 4th quarter 2012. Southwest plans to keep capacity flat or down slightly.

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The Wright Amendment is a 1979 law named after its sponsor U.S. House Speaker, Jim Wright, that restricts flights out of Love Field in Dallas to nine states. The idea was to give a distinct advantage to American to build a giant hub in Dallas at DFW International Airport without having to worry about competitors taking off from Love Field charging lower fares. American is able to charge higher fares out of Dallas than from other cities. Southwest is fighting to have the law overturned with a campaign. In the early years Southwest was a discount commuter airline to 4 cities and catering to Dallas area business customers. Southwest founder refrained from fighting the Wright Amendment because of American's superior financial and political influence in Congress. It is only as it has grown tremendously that the Wright Amendment has looked more and more "ridiculous" in CEO Kelly's words.

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Republicans pursuit of infrastructure dollars in California is a good thing, a rising tide lifts all boats, and infrastructure spending is even higher under Biden's Inflation Reduction Act in states in the south and southwest.

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The U.S. Justice Department opens an investigation of the largest airlines, Delta, American, United Continental, and Southwest for collusion in limiting expansion. The major 4 airlines control 80% of the domestic airline seats in the U.S. The 3 major airlines have grown slowly compared to Southwest in recent years. JetBlue and Spirit are also growing faster. Southwest plans to expand by 7% in the 4th quarter. U.S. airline domestic seats show slow growth since 2010, with growth picking up in 2015 over the prior year to 3.5% in 2015, according to Innovata. For 2013 and 2014 <0.5% growth in seats, in 2012 decline of <1%, 2011 growth of less than 1%, and slight decline in 2010. During the crisis 2008-2009 airlines cut seat capacity. Price increases have averaged 5% increase from 2007 to 2014 to $391, adjusted for inflation for domestic seats. The U.S. Justice Department investigation will look at "possible unlawful coordination."