The Company worked to get its planes in the air as quickly as possible once the grounding was lifted. The fact that, within a week of the attacks, rival airlines announced major job cuts spoke volumes about the character of Southwest Airlines. Jim kicked things off as CEO by sending a letter to every Southwest Employee that said, in effect: We don’t know what the future holds, but know this: Your jobs are safe, and we’re going to keep issuing paychecks even though not a single plane is in the air. For they all believed deeply in the Southwest philosophy that said: “Leading an organization is as much about soul as it is about systems.”Īt Southwest Airlines Headquarters, Employees work together to unfurl an enormous American flag shortly after the September 11 attacks. Just as importantly, Southwest needed to maintain its Heart and the confidence of its People. Despite the fact that every dollar was precious and Southwest could have easily halted that contribution given the circumstances, Leadership stayed true to its commitment and disbursed funds to Employee profitsharing accounts, believing it was undoubtedly the right course of action. airline industry, not to mention the talent and financial expertise to navigate this crisis.Īt the time, Southwest was within a week of funding its Profitsharing Plan with the previous year’s contribution. One of the first notes Herb had scrawled on his note pad was the simple directive “Get cash.” Although Southwest had plenty of money in the bank, Herb knew that raising additional capital-in his words “all the cash we possibly could”-translated into job security and money for its Employees during what was likely to be a punishing economic downturn.įortunately, Southwest Airlines boasted the strongest balance sheet and credit ratings in the U.S. Leadership released a collective sigh of relief, then it turned its attention to the host of logistical and financial dangers lurking on the horizon. It was a countdown like no other in the Company’s history-190 airplanes, 170, 100, 50, 20-until only one plane remained unaccounted for.Īfter a nail-biting stretch of silence, Greg finally received word that the final plane had been safely rerouted to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Juggling every phone he could find, as then-Vice President of Safety, Security & Flight Dispatch Greg Wells provided a running tally of how many Southwest planes had landed. The immediate goal was to confirm all planes and Customers were safely on the ground. If it could keep its extended Family safe-Employees and Customers alike-Southwest could see its way through the crisis. 2 pencil, everyone felt an unshakable confidence that Southwest had been built to not only survive but prevail during such a moment. And with Founder Herb Kelleher by their side, scrawling notes on his trademark notepad with a simple No. But within Southwest, everyone knew their responsibilities and how to perform them. The fact that Southwest had just completed a major Leadership transition months earlier-elevating Jim Parker to CEO, Colleen Barrett to President, and Gary Kelly to Executive Vice President-might have crippled a lesser organization. The room was a rampart of mutual trust and quiet resolve. Beyond the immediate security issues, the unprecedented grounding raised a question no one had ever needed to pose: How long would it take for air travel to return to the United States?ĭespite the chaos and harrowing images flickering on TVs across the nation, neither fear nor panic crossed the threshold into the Southwest boardroom. In response, the FAA ordered an immediate grounding of all 4,546 civilian aircraft in U.S. Capitol, was overtaken by onboard passengers who thwarted the intended attack and crash-landed the plane in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.Īll passengers aboard these planes were killed, as were a then-unknown number of people in the World Trade Towers. And a fourth, which was intended to strike the U.S. One plane struck The Pentagon, another two were intentionally flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Earlier that morning, terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes.
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