A fan tour of Southwest’s Dallas HQ covering flight attendant and pilot training, the Network Operations Center, TechOps hangar, and social media Listening Center.
Key Takeaways
26 full-motion CAE 737 simulators on-site, each costing $14.2 million; the building is rated to withstand an F3 tornado.
The single Network Operations Center runs 4,000 daily flights with dispatchers, meteorology, crew, ATC, and maintenance all co-located; chief officers convene three times a day.
Scheduling optimization tool called “The Baker” handles real-time disruption; a broken lavatory can ground a plane while a broken coffee maker cannot.
TechOps operates Southwest’s 800+ Boeing 737 fleet, the world’s largest; sheet metal mastery takes roughly 10 years and technicians have tenure of 30+ years.
The Listening Center social media command center monitors keywords, emojis, and industry trends on a live wall of monitors.
