Francis Wade and I try another Live Video. This time we excavate Southwest’s history and its recent ignominy!
I have written a LOT about Southwest over the years. Most recently , my references to Southwest Airlines has all been woeful; lamenting its slow demise. In this post, I shared my concerns about what they were likely to do under pressure from activist investor Elliot Management. That was in late 2024. Then, in early 2025, when they ceded all power to those same activist investors –and at the same time sold their strategic souls, I published this post.
But before this awful downward turn in 2022, I often cited the airline as what it truly was, an iconic business that disrupted an entire industry, changing passenger flight forever. I have admired their long-term approach to strategy here, and been awestruck by their brilliant attack on uncertainty through arbitraging their fuel usage here.
But all that greatness has been sacrificed at the altar of the management’s quest for short-term improvement and a quiet life.
We get into the whole sad take. Click the image below to watch the video.
