On Mar 8, 1:29*am, wrote:

The fatalities per million flights stats would confirm that SWA is
safer than only a few US airlines, namely: Alaska, Aloha, American,
Continental, Delta, Midwest Express, Northwest, United and US
Airways. *

??????????????????? Apples/Oranges. Take a look at the safety related
incidents that get reported every year and you will get a much clearer
picture. One of the biggest complaints that I have heard from pilots
at LCC's is the stuff that goes unreported.

The argument that SWA's cheaper tickets come out of maintenance costs
flies in the face of the most strightforward analysis.

It also flies (Pun intended ) in the face of my post. My point was
not about mainenence . It was about cutting operational corners in
general and I used the De/Anti Ice as an example. There are plenty
more.


For airlines
operating 737-800s (Continental, American, Delta, Sun Country, ATA,
Alaska) the average total operating cost is: 43% fuel, 23% a/c
financing, 18% crew and 9% direct maitenance.

Laughing now.

*The way
they get lower costs is by flying more trips per aircraft per year and
per crew per year.

They also do it by not training to cat ll or lll approaches or
installing ACARS and ignoring QTA limits. This list of things that
every other airline in the world has accepted as SOP and SWA (With the
FAA's blessing) gets to ignore is quite lengthy.


They do this because the have a far more efficient
operating model (all point to point flying, faster boarding, keeping
cews and a/c together to minimize the impact of disruptions) and less
onerous crew work rules leading to more flight hours per FAA "clocked"
hour - work rules at other carriers encourage building up non-
productive time to increase the number of union-dues-paying pilots
required per flight hour. None of these differences affects safety,
and some may in fact enhance safety.

Laughing harder now. Dont know who you fly for but you should have
just put your anti labor rant in the begining so we wouldnt have to
read the rest of your post. Did you know SWA has more unions on the
property than many other airlines

Frank