Jonathan Goodish wrote:
>In article ,
> zak wrote:
>
>> Well, after today's Chapter 11 filing by Delta and Northwest, it
>> appears that American Airlines is now the only pre-deregulation U.S.
>> major carrier left that hasn't seen a trip to Bankruptcy Court.
>
>
>What about Southwest? They are certainly a major carrier, and were
>flying for several years before deregulation.
"Certainly" doubtful. Southwest is at a point of growth where some
consider it a major airline while others consider it a regional
airline. Most in the stock market industry, for example, still
consider Southwest a regional airline. It depends on your criteria
for a major carrier: revenue, number of passengers carried, number of
routes, etc.
To me, there is one distinction that separates a major carrier from a
regional one: international destinations. When I'm at Brazil's GRU or
Japan's NRT airports, I see the counters for American, Delta, and
United. I have yet to see one for Southwest anywhere. With or
without code sharing, Southwest doesn't fly anywhere but to 50 to 70
domestic destinations. So, Southwest is not a major carrier, only a
regional one.
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