Southwest Airlines considering selling food on board
Southwest Airlines, the American low-cost airline that is known for serving peanuts free of charge onboard, is now considering selling food in an attempt to raise its revenue.
For many years now, Southwest Airlines, based in Dallas, Texas, the United States, has kept its fares low to a certain extent by not providing free in-flight meals and instead serving small packages of peanuts as a snack, even while other large carriers were offering free meals at first and then changed to selling food.
But, with the global economic recession leading to reduced demand for air travel, Southwest Airlines is exploring ways to enhance revenue, the newspaper The Fort Worth Star-Telegram quoted Brad Hawkins, a spokesman of the airline, as saying.
According to Hawkins, Southwest Airlines is considering selling food on its flights with a view to “improving the customer experience and also increasing revenue.” However, he added, the company was also considering other ideas to boost revenue. The spokesman said Southwest Airlines had not yet set a timetable on selling food on board its flights, “nor decided whether an in-flight menu would constitute sandwiches and salads or an expanded snack lineup.”
The airline is aiming at generating $1.5 billion in new annual revenue from sources other than sales of ticket by 2010.
Fall in passenger traffic had forced Southwest Airlines to cut seating capacity by 4% in 2009. In addition, traffic measured in miles flown by paying passengers had dropped by 6.2% in February 2009.
A section of the media had reported about two yeas ago that Southwest Airlines was toying with the idea of serving food items onboard as well as charging for “priority boarding and assigned seating.”
It may be noted that the introduction of peanuts as a snack onboard the flights of Northwest Airlines, after Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines merged in 2008, had attracted opposition from passengers, mainly from those who are allergic to peanuts. (According to data given out by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 3 million Americans are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts.)
At present, on journeys shorter than 724 kilometres, passengers of Southwest Airlines can choose between peanuts and pretzels; on flights as long as 1,800 kilometres, the in-flight snacks comprise a pack of cookies or a pack or crackers; and travellers on flights longer than 1,800 kilometres are given snack packs that contain cookies and crackers.
JetBlue Airways, the low-fare airline based in New York, the United States, had, in January 2009, started testing sale of light meals and snacks on some of its long-haul flights.
- US Airways to resume serving non-alcoholic drinks free of charge on board from March 1, 2009US Airways, the low-cost airline based in Tempe, Arizona, the United States, will resume serving non-alcoholic drinks such as sodas, coffee, tea, juices and bottled water to economy-class passengers free of charge from March 1, 2009. However, the carrier will continue to charge fees for some other items, including in-flight blankets and pillows. Also, US Airways will continue to charge alcoholic drinks at $7 each. US Airways was the only major domestic airline based in the United States that started charging for non-alcoholic drinks, from August 1, 2008 – at the rate of $2 for sodas and juices and $1 for coffee. The carrier had also jacked up prices of beer, wine and cocktails from $5 to $7 from the same date. It may be noted that flight attendants at US Airways had opposed charging passengers for non-alcoholic beverages on the ground that the responsibility for selling them in-flight and dealing with “unhappy passengers” hindered their ability to ensure safety in the cabin. Doug Parker, chief executive officer of US Airways, said in a statement that making passengers pay for sodas, coffee, tea, juices and bottled water had become “a competitive disadvantage” for the airline. US Airways, Parker explained, was compelled to add the fees in August 2008 after the price of aviation turbine fuel skyrocketed to a record $4.36 a gallon in July 2008. The cost of fuel has since dropped by as much as 70%. The statement said US Airways was “committed to its a la carte service style” where passengers pay more to check bags into the hold or for the use of a blanket and pillow. US Airways had earlier said that it expected to earn $400 million to $500 million in 2009 from fees charged on any services beyond the basic fare, including additional costs for select seats and also the plan to sell pillows and blankets in-flight. The fees for non-alcoholic beverage, Doug Parker said in the statement, had become “a focal point that detracts from improved on-time performance and baggage-handling.” Meanwhile, the United States Transportation Department said in a press release that US Airways recorded the best on-time performance in 2008 among the six large US-based airlines that use hub airports as a part of their networks. Earlier, US Airways had ranked either last or near-last in terms of on-time performance.
- easyJet to serve Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee in-flight from May 1, 2009
- AirTran Airways serves Coca-Cola’s Fresca as complimentary beverage aboard all it flights
- Southwest Airlines to accept credit cards for in-flight drinks instead of cash
- Southwest Airlines to offer Wi-Fi in its entire fleet by early 2012
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.