Business Strategy and Outlook
| Brian Bernard, CFA, CPA |Southwest is a leisure-focused low-cost carrier and is the largest domestic carrier in the U.S. We believe Southwest’s customer-friendly tactics benefit the firm by providing the closest thing to a brand asset in the airline industry. We point to the fact that over 85% of Southwest's sales are through its own distribution channel, where prices among carriers are difficult to compare, while other carriers have a higher reliance on third-party distributors to earn customers.