The CEO of Southwest Airlines, Bob Jordan, tends not to wear any suits when flying so that it can give the flight crew a hand.
In a far -reaching Interview with the New York TimesHe unveiled his own flight habits, spoke about Southwest’s recent decision to end many years of guidelines, and shared the advice that he received from the legendary co -founder Herb Kelleher.
Jordan said he prefers the window seat, but sits in the corridor when he fly around the shop so that he can get up, speak to the attendants and move through the cabin.
“I’m serving snacks. I take garbage. Then I’m sitting in the cockpit and talking to our pilots,” he said Just. “I don’t want to crawl over people, so I’m more sitting in the corridor so that I can do things and do things.”
In fact, he rarely wears a suit when flying and usually wears a vest or a polo shirt because he wants to work with the crew. Suits are usually reserved for visits to Washington, DC, and meetings with legislators or other civil servants.
Jordan even suggested that his helpful habits extend to the floor team.
“I want to go down and unload bags. It is super difficult to unload bags and get into the stomach of the aircraft with a suit,” he said.
The CEO also discussed the reactions on the southwest Decision last year to end his famous open-sating policy and start for premium seats and the pivot point at the beginning of this year to be sharp Scale the guidelines “Flying bags fly for free”.
“I know we have some who are not happy – and we have many, many, many who are happy,” said Jordan. “You have to speak further because people sometimes don’t understand what they do. I think that as soon as people know where we go, they are very excited. I think you just have to go through this time of change because change is difficult.”
He admitted that Southwest had to play “a bit of catching up” with other airlines by going over to the new guidelines in a few months and not years.
However, he denied that the changes were driven by the activist Elliott Investment Managementwho was looking for a grant at the airline. The airline revised his board last year But Jordan kept as a CEO.
Jordan was also reminded that he started in Southwest in 1988 when Kelleher was the CEO, and said they had met on his first day.
When asked what Kelleher, who died in 2019, would present the major changes in the southwest, he replied with some advice that he received from the co -founder of the airline.
“One of the herbal quotes No. 1 was:” If they don’t change, they die, “recalled Jordan.” Herb did not build the airline like this. Herb built the airline to differ from a service perspective. “
