At Aviation Festival Americas in May, Andrew Watterson, Chief Operating Officer, Southwest Airlines joined to share his insights into the current challenges facing the industry, effective application of emerging technologies, and strategic priorities for the future.

During the five-minute discussion, Watterson highlighted the importance of enhancing labour productivity through new and innovative technologies. When asked which area emerging tech has the most potential for significant change, Watterson said:

“I think the areas that can help really multiply the efforts of the labour. We’ve had a run up, at least in the United States, of labour costs coming out of COVID, especially the skilled labour once again. And so in the US, at least, labour costs are about 40 per cent of your cost structure. And customers want cheap tickets. So how do you reconcile the two? You need more productivity from your labour. So innovations that help amplify or multiply the efforts of your employees so they can create more output with the same level of labour is what we need.”

As the discussion shifted to strategic priorities for the future, Watterson explained that changing customer travel patterns have pushed the airline to look critically at its value proposition. With the number of business trips per business passenger still not back to pre-COVID levels, Southwest is looking to backfill the gap with leisure travel.

“[Adapting] our product to that changing mix is important. And also we find that customers are a little more willing to pay up for some luxury. Not supreme luxury, but just a little more. So how do you get that quite right is the challenge for us and we’re studying that right now.”

For more on this and the dynamic challenges the industry is facing, watch the short interview below.

 

Questions asked include:

    1. As the industry landscape evolves, what do you see as the most pressing challenges today and how are you proactively addressing these at Southwest?​
    2. With the industry striving for innovation, what areas do you think emerging technology presents the most significant opportunities for advancement?​
    3. In terms of strategic priorities, what are you focusing on in the coming year and what are your longer term objectives?

 

 

For more from onsite at Aviation Festival Americas see: