Kelleher: Asset mobility makes aviation more competitive than other industries
Herb Kelleher · Remembering Herb Kelleher · Jan 4, 2019 · at 23:50
Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines, reflects on the structural dynamics that make commercial aviation uniquely competitive.
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“I think that it's more competitive than other industries, and one of the reasons for that is that our principal capital assets, The airplanes move at 540 miles an hour. And, you know, if you have a shoe factory that, that fails in Seattle, as an example you can't within hours transport that shoe factory to Chattanooga, Tennessee to compete there. But if your Seattle Air Service fails, you can have your airplanes in San Antonio or Chattanooga within a matter of hours. So the very mobility of your capital assets Breeds a lot of competition.”
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