Southwest Airline in Baltimore Assignment Questions 1. How does Southwest Airline (SWA) compete? What are its advantages relative to other airlines? Draw an influence, i. e. , cause-and-effect, diagram to explain the company’s competitive advantage. 2. The plane turnaround process requires coordination among twelve functional groups at SWA to service, in a brief period of time, an incoming plane and match it up with its new passengers and baggage for a prompt departure.
Please evaluate the plane turnaround process at Baltimore-resource utilization, capacity, bottlenecks, information flows, etc. How is the process working? 3. Why is the operational performance at Baltimore eroding? What issues do you identify that require action? Use the influence diagram, if useful. 4. What would you recommend Matt Hafner do? Pilots Flight attendants Gate agents Ticket agents Operations agents: manage the coordination of each flight turnaround Ramp agents Baggage transfer agents Cargo agents Mechanics Fuelers Aircraft cleaners
Caterers Arrival of flight 110 Ops coordinator receives in-range call from Flight110, about expected arrival time and weight of remaining fuel onboard, and then assign gate number Ops agent attached the fuel invoice, cargo bin loading schedule Gate agents opens the gate for check-in an hour before the originally scheduled departure time Ramp supervisor identifies connecting flight passengers and bags Transfer driver responsible for bags connecting to another flight. Local driver moved bags to baggage claim for Baltimore as final destination.
Lav driver drained the restroom receptacles Lead agent is responsible for the carts and reported bag counts in the cargo bin loading schedule Bin agent worked inside cargo bins loading and off-loading baggage and cargo Lead agent check the cargo bin loading schedule and finds hot bags Bin agent moved a conveyor belt vehicle into the place between the fuel and provisioning truck, stage empty carts Bag runner arrives with luggage cart holding the locally originating baggage Lead agent guides plane to the stop mark, wait for engine to stop Captain signals the engine turn off
Provisioning truck pulled off, restock provisions Fuel truck extended hose , sees fueling instructions Bags move from Baggage conveyor to cart All unloading in 9. 5 min, and 30 sec later both originating and transfer cargo was being up-loaded Ops agent steered jetway into position. Informed in-flight crew of connects, and of wheelchairs.
In-flight crew cleans cabin area and confirmed continuing passengers stayed on board Inbound passengers with tight connections were escorted to their gates After 8 min final passenger deplaned, ops agent began the boarding process in groups of 30, each taking about 3 mins to board. After confirming that all passengers have boarded. Ops agent checked fuel invoice, cargo bin loading schedule, with actual —s Ops agent checked final information and sent via Otis to counterpart in Manchester.
