Your unions say Southwest has been too investor-focused for years and hasn’t invested enough in the operation. What is your response to that criticism?
I’ve been asked a lot if we have outdated technology. We spend a billion dollars a year on technology here at Southwest. And like any business, there are always things that are brand new, like our maintenance system, and there are always things you’re working on.
We have a very good operational improvement plan. Crew planning is an important part of this. If you look back over the past year, I think we’ve introduced eight new versions of SkySolver. We hired 120 crew planners. We led the crew planning and realignment. I’m not saying for a minute that we’re done or that that’s enough.
As for the shareholder issue, it’s not a one-time decision. We are financially very healthy. And as a result, we don’t have to make a choice between investing in technology or investing in our shareholders. During the holidays, we went to bounty, we offered gratitude, we did gestures of goodwill for our employees, just as we did for our customers.
How do you regain the trust of your customers?
We have a 51 year history of operating a really good airline and providing great service. That didn’t change just because we had this event.
That doesn’t mean we screwed up. I think the best we can do is to use this event as a catalyst to get even better. This is a great company, but the best thing we can do for our customers is continue to deliver a great product, invest in our product. You’ve seen us do all those things — we’re adding power ports and bigger bins. Keep investing in them, keep running a great operation, keep providing great hospitality and get even better.
Can you help us understand when you knew things went really wrong around Christmas?
We plan days and days in advance for storms, hurricanes – all those things. We watch the operation every day; our leaders make many calls a day to see how we are doing. I am on several calls a day, on a normal day. That was all going on.
