American Airlines' fleet of MD-80 planes is grounded yet again for inspections — not for a flight-safety issue but because of a dictat from regulators. Regardless, American is suffering a public-relations disaster. And O'Hare is expecting thunderstorms this afternoon...
The question in my mind is whether the American Airlines experience applies to Southwest Airlines. American relies heavily on the MD-80 but Southwest relies exclusively on a single airplane, the Boeing 737. By using just one type of airplane Southwest eliminates substantial costs — not just in inventory of spare parts, but of training of both pilots and mechanics. While this has worked for Southwest in the past, American's reliance on the MD-80 also worked for them in the past. One question is whether or not investors will devalue Southwest Airlines because of a newly perceived vulnerability; the other question, one that I find more interesting, is if there's some method to mitigate Southwest's risk, and how disaggregation can play a role. It's a question that I can't answer just yet.
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