Joe Leonard on Competition

Aviation Week hosted a conference last week at the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine. About 1000 attended, among them was Joe Leonard, CEO of Air Tran.

He said competing with Southwest doesn’t bother him at all, as a matter of fact, “we don’t fear anybody”. For that matter, he said it’s easier to compete with Southwest than it is with other airlines.

Competing with airlines that are profitable make decisions so they remain profitable, not because they are desperate for survival. Remember when ATA said they were going to enter the Dallas/Fort Worth Los Angeles market? American Airlines responded with deep fare cuts to all five Los Angeles airports from Dallas / Fort Worth.