Southwest Airlines Cargo Honored as Airline of the Year
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), America's most admired airline, receives recognition for its excellence in transporting cargo, not just Customers. The accolades continue as Southwest Airlines Cargo recently was named "Airline of the Year" by the Express Delivery & Logistics Association (XLA) -- formerly the Air Courier Conference of America.
Southwest accepted the award in March during AirCargo 2005, a conference and trade show for the air freight forwarding and expedited delivery industries that XLA co-sponsors with two other association partners.
"We are thrilled to be recognized for our efforts in providing the best cargo service in the industry," said Mack Sikorski, Southwest's director of cargo. "We know that our Customers rely on dependability, accessibility, and flexibility when it comes to cargo, and this award speaks volumes to our ability to provide them with just that."
Southwest Airlines Cargo soared in a field of nine competing airlines rated by members of XLA for service, communications, website technology, tracking and tracing, and Federal Aviation Administration airline ontime performance data in 2004. Southwest took top honors in 2002 and 2003, and finished second in the ranking in 2001 and 2004. The XLA Award is based on an annual survey of association members who use the services of carriers for their express deliveries around the world.
Founded in 1976, XLA is a nonprofit association whose members include large firms with global delivery networks and smaller businesses with strong regional delivery networks. The association represents the interest of the air courier and express delivery industry by communicating positions to legislative and regulatory officials. In addition, they provide a forum for the exchange of information regarding trends and developments within the industry, and they promote the use of air courier and express services.
Southwest Airlines, the nation's largest carrier in terms of domestic passengers enplaned (according to DOT data for the third quarter of 2004), currently serves 59 cities in 31 states. Based in Dallas, Southwest operates more than 2,900 flights a day and has 31,000 employees systemwide. The carrier will begin service to Pittsburgh on May 4, 2005.
SOURCE Southwest Airlines
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