LGS6753 statement an error
LGS6753 said: and suffer the same fuel cost as Southwest
I will argue that no other US carrier pays the same fuel cost as Southwest.
"Southwest's chief, Gary C. Kelly, said airlines could not grow and become
profitable by making workers pay the price.
"If you don't treat your people right, you pay the price," said Mr. Kelly,
whose unionized airline pays some of the highest wages in the industry, even
though its overall costs are among the lowest.
Mr. Kelly, whose low-fare airline has a higher market capitalization than all
its major rivals combined, likewise had little sympathy for the pain that
fuel prices had inflicted on Northwest and Delta.
Neither company has contracts protecting them from the rise in prices, while
Southwest locked in the price of 85 percent of the fuel it plans to
purchase this year."
DAL Mgt had some fuel hedging in place last year, but sold it for short term benefits (funding senior Mgt pension insurance?). Both airlines mgt teams chose to avoid hedging during the last 12-18 months.
Southwest is the only carrier to significantly hedge. No other US airline pays the same fuel costs as Southwest.