Introduction
Southwest Airlines is US domestic Airline Company which was founded in March, 1967 in Dallas, Taxes. It was the largest passenger carrier service in the United Stated as according to the passenger carried in June 2010. Southwest Airlines only utilizes Boeing 737 jets for carrying passengers. It has a fleet of 547 Boeing planes trough which manages 3100 flights daily as of January 2011 (Koenig, 2004). The company claims to be the most low cost fare offering company in the US because it does not offer the standard services that are offered by other airlines like first class cabin and airport lounge. Southwest Airlines had net income of 99 million dollar in year 2009 The Company also acquired AirTran Airways in September 2010. Marketing mix consists of four Ps of marketing which are product, price, place and promotion. General marketing mix analysis of southwest airlines in presented below.
Product
• Main product of southwest airline is its air transportation to the passengers with in the US. It does not offer direct flights to the locations outside the United States.
• A southwest airline claims that it offers tickets to the passenger with lower cost than any other company in the US.
• Services it offers as a part of its main service include snack packs and soft drinks and Wi-Fi internet connectivity.
Price
• Southwest airline uses two basic pricing strategies. First one in variable or dynamic pricing and other one is cost leadership or low pricing. Prices are different for children and senior citizens (Freiberg, and Jackie 1996).
• Also southwest airlines will give a discount if you purchase tickets in advance for about three weeks. People who are traveling for fun are elastic demand for the company. They need low prices.
• On the other hand, people traveling for work and business are the inelastic demand. They need to be priced accordingly.
• That is why Southwest airline is carrying above mentioned pricing strategies so that it can charge prices according to people, seasons and situations.
Place
• Planes of southwest airlines serve in seventy cities of United States covering approximately thirty five states.
• People can reach the service by booking a ticket for them and just by coming to the relevant airport.
• Airport on which there is a larger activity of southwest airline include Austin, Chicago, Houston, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, San Jose, Dallas and Denver (Lee, and Terry, 1996).
Promotions
• Southwest airlines use internet, TV and print media as main sources of advertising its products and services.
• In airport advertising is also an important part of the company’s promotional campaign. In addition to regular promotional efforts, the airline launches the special campaigns to increase air passenger travel (Peterson, 2004).
• For instance, company launched and advertising campaign in June 2009. The campaign was aimed at encouraging people to continue air traveling regardless of current economic down turn.
• The campaign had a tag line "Grab Your Bag. It’s On." This on time promotional effort helped in gaining the losing interest of people in air travel due to the severe economic conditions present at that time.
References
• Koenig, David (2004). "Southwest gets new CEO". Deseret News (Salt Lake City).
• Peterson, Barbara S. (2004). Blue Streak: Inside JetBlue, the Upstart that Rocked an Industry. Portfolio Hardcover.
• Freiberg, Kevin, and Jackie Freiberg. (1996). NUTS! Austin, Texas: Bard Press.
• Lee, Christopher and Terry Maxon. (1996). “Southwest to announce expansion at Love Field $72 million project would add jobs, but no more flights." The Dallas Morning News.