United Airlines vs Southwest Airlines

The airline industry is a particular sector, subject to many changes because of external factors. This report is aimed at analysing the financial results of two big American airlines companies which had very different figures during these last 6 years. On the one hand, there is southwest airlines Company that has been for many years among the most admired companies in the US and consistently among the most profitable of US airlines. And on the other hand, the united airlines company which, like most of the large US airlines, has had several financially difficulties in the last few years. In fact, united airlines filed for bankruptcy in December 2002.
We will write an analysis of these two companies' financial performance, using ratios, in order to understand why these both companies have realized different results during these last years, why one has encounter success while the other one hasn't.
We will also talk about the background of the airline industry in order to better understand the situation. In fact, over the past several years, the airline industry and consequently all the airlines companies have been faced with several business challenges.

After having done an analysis of the airline market and a short presentation of the 2 concerned airlines companies, we will study several ratios concerning the companies profitability, liquidity, efficiency and financial risk ratio in order to do a complete analyse of the situation.