So apparently the announcement of Volaris as a codeshare partner hasn’t gone over the best over at Southwest, at least according to some rumors I’m hearing - I first noticed a report of this on PlaneBuzz.
There was one comment on Southwest’s own blog that I found interesting as well, and there are a few like it. (Kudos to the Southwest blog team for letting employees express discontent freely.)
The potential for profit for the COMPANY is good, but employees that depend on seniority progression for their careers should be VERY scared. This is flying we should and could be doing and now we are going to facilitate through www.southwest.com and this codeshare Volaris’ growth while we remain stagnant! This should be potentially very concerning, especially to FA’s and pilots, but as well to other employee groups! We could do this OURSELVES and in very close to this timeframe. The same can be said for the WestJet codeshare. Troubling times folks… Our upper management is outsourcing our jobs/labor progression under this overly happy disguise because we as a group tend to be very trusting employees. Remember Herb is
There’s also a very long, detailed comment on the Dallas Morning News Airline Biz Blog, if you want to check that out. (Thanks to curbcrusher on FlyerTalk for pointing that out.)
Nevertheless, it is important to see how this situation develops, especially with Southwest in labor negotiations at present. This could be “growing pains” - plenty of airlines have codeshared successfully, and Southwest is just making its first steps in this area, or it could mean something more in the long run.
Regardless, this is all based on rumors this point, and as far as I know nothing official has come out from Southwest’s unions.
I had suspected in the past that Volaris would be a good partner for Southwest, and it actually happened. If you’re not familiar with Volaris, it’s a Mexican LCC that is only a bit more than two years old. The airline (according to ATDB) currently operates 18 A319s and 2 A320s, and has orders for a few more aircraft during the next couple of years. I think this new codeshare is great for both airlines.
A partnership gives Volaris some great opportunities - the airline currently does not serve the United States (Volaris will be doing all the transborder flying though), and Mexicana (joining Oneworld soon) and Aeromexico (Skyteam) already have established United States routes, so this will help them compete.
But this agreement is also great for Southwest, and I think it is a move that will make the frequent flyers out there happy. One of the main complaints oI have heard about Southwest and Rapid Rewards is that there is a limited number of international and vacation destinations for reward travel. So this agreement (assuming Rapid Rewards credits could be used to get travel on Volaris) adds some nice, sunny destinations for frequent customers to visit. The Caribbean and Hawaii are still two large vacation destinations that are missing, but Mexico is a good step.
Interestingly, next year one will be able to purchase Volaris tickets for transborder flights before the codeshare is in place (the same thing is happening with WestJet). For those keeping score with Southwest alliances, the WestJet codeshare is planned to be in place at the end of next year, and Volaris is planned to come online early 2010.
So, Southwest is slowly building up their own alliance. Let’s see who joins next. I am very to see who Southwest will choose for European and Asian partners (if there are any on the horizon).
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