Southwest Airlines illustrates how competitive advantage influences business perfor­mance. The regional carrier built a strong advantage over competing U.S. domestic airlines in the 1990s.9 Its costs per revenue passenger mile are much lower than other carriers'. Southwest does not serve, meals, offers no seat reservations, and. flies only Boeing 737 aircraft. A key competitive advantage is high aircraft utilization by minimizing the time between landing and takeoff. Southwest's entire workforce is market-oriented (see Case I -4).We will now discuss obtaining competitive advantage, how competitive position is analyzed, how to sustain competitive advantage, and how market-entry •barriers create advantage