Fort Myers LUV fest

Fort Myers LUV fest

By Jean Gruss

Editor/Lee-Collier

By now, everyone knows about the "Southwest Effect." When Southwest Airlines pulls into town, it drags airfares lower by undercutting the competition with its famous low fares.

That's why every airport manager's dream is to land Southwest.

So it was no surprise when Gary Kelly, the airline's vice chairman and chief executive officer, got the royal treatment when he arrived in Fort Myers to launch the airline's new nonstop service to five cities - Baltimore, Chicago, Long Island, Orlando and Philadelphia - from the airport's new terminal on October 3. Airport officials have been trying to woo Southwest to Fort Myers for more than a decade. Now, they joked, the airline and Southwest Florida International Airport share more than just a name.

Kelly spoke with Review editor Jean Gruss about why it took so long for Southwest to come to Fort Myers, whether Sarasota will be next and how he plans to grow the Florida operations. Here's an edited transcript of the conversation:

Why did it take ten years for Southwest to come to Fort Myers?

Fort Myers is a better opportunity than it was five or ten years ago. In the context of the choices we had at the time, it wasn't as good as Providence, R.I., or Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. But at this point in our development, with our route system and the way it's grown in Fort Myers over the last five years in particular, it fits very well. And the fact that we have the new midfield terminal with more gate facilities-which will allow us expansion opportunities-is an important factor as well.

What do you need to see to expand the operation here?

The nice thing about Southwest is that we're a pretty large company with a lot of destinations and a lot of flights throughout the country. So that creates a lot of potential in and of itself here for Fort Myers. But the main thing we'll look for is customer response. If our flights are full, that tells us we need to add more flights. We will offer 29 other destinations (via Orlando) besides our five nonstops and the demand for those destinations will also tell us whether we need to add nonstops to certain markets. Fort Myers in particular is interested in more service to the western part of the U.S. We have a tremendous amount of capacity deployed out West and so hopefully we'll see demand materialize there and we can provide service that way.

When should we expect more nonstop destinations from Fort Myers?

It's nice to let new markets to cook for about a year. Nine daily departures is a pretty modest start for us. It's not overly ambitious. So I would hope that if demand responds accordingly that we would add flights next year. I would say this: Our priority is always to the communities that we currently serve, as opposed to branching out and opening more new markets.

People used to drive to Tampa to catch a Southwest flight. Are you cannibalizing some of that business by opening up down here?

I'm sure that we will, but on balance we will increase the market dramatically by adding flights here in Fort Myers. The drive-and-fly market is not as dependable either, so certainly we'll continue to have a very strong business in Tampa. It's one of our better cities.

Now that you have service in Tampa and Fort Myers, does that rule out service to Sarasota-Bradenton?

I would never say "never," but obviously what we want to do at this point is to continue to develop our existing Florida cities, which are continuing to grow and getting more new flights every year. Our focus now will obviously be on Fort Myers. So I don't think they're on the list any time soon, but that doesn't mean that we can't reconsider them at some point in the future.

Tell us about why Orlando is one of your destinations from Fort Myers. Is Orlando your Florida hub?

We don't have hubs, but because we put so many flights in cities they almost look like a hub. It's a relatively short route for us; it's about 140 miles as the crow flies. The ground traffic is congested, so we think there's demand there. Our flights looked very strong yesterday to Orlando. But the fact that we have so many flights from Orlando is helpful. That gives you more access from Fort Myers, at least for now, as we begin the development of our route system.

You have cut back on intra-Florida flights since you started service in this state about ten years ago. What about starting service from Fort Myers to Fort Lauderdale or Jacksonville?

We would love to have more short-haul flights. What we've seen since 9/11 is a change in short-haul travel patterns. The airport experience is now quite good, but I think a lot of people have changed their travel patterns - especially for business travel - because of the perceived airport hassle. It's a misperception and it's something that we're working on. But throughout the country we've seen lesser demand for short-haul flights and more demand for long-haul flights. It's our bread and butter and the company was really built to offer short-haul service, so we would be delighted to see more short-haul traffic and I think we will.

You already have low-fare competitors here -JetBlue, Song and others-and Delta is the dominant carrier in Fort Myers. How do you size up the competition and do you see Southwest eventually becoming the dominant carrier in Fort Myers?

I would be delighted to see things evolve that way. We all have our unique route systems. Delta obviously has a major hub in Atlanta and we don't serve Atlanta. So there are things they can offer the community in terms of destinations. Likewise with JetBlue and the others. We have a low-cost structure, we're profitable, we're going to continue to grow, so I think we can certainly be the low-fare leader and be a stable force in the market and ultimately be the largest carrier.

Business travelers like first class cabins, assigned seating and frequent-flier miles they can use on different airlines. Are any of those things under consideration?

Business travelers like convenience, they like reliable performance and friendly employees. And they watch their costs, of course. So I think Southwest Airlines is a business person's airline. We have arguably the best frequent flier plan in the country in terms of its generosity and the available destinations. In terms of product changes we'll consider over time, I would see that as evolutionary and we'll respond to what customers value. If they're willing to pay for things that cost extra money, then certainly we can do that. What we'd love to do is to continue to improve customer service at no additional cost, like online check-in at southwest.com and self-service kiosks, which are all things that our customers like and are actually very cost-effective for us to offer.