LUV vs SATS Comparison

Southwest Airlines is the largest domestic air carrier in the United States by passengers boarded. Southwest operates nearly 800 aircraft in an all-Boeing 737 fleet. Despite offering some longer routes and a few perks for business travelers, the airline predominantly specializes in short-haul, leisure flights operated in a single, open-seating cabin configuration in a point-to-point network. In early 2026, Southwest will modify its cabins to offer some rows with extra legroom and will update its ticketing process and merchandising to offer assigned seats and more fare categories, including a basic economy class that will more directly compete with other airlines' offerings and appear for the first time in travel aggregators' search results.

Satellite television provides the bulk of EchoStar's revenue. The firm serves about 5 million US satellite customers, about 10% of the traditional television market. It also serves 2 million customers under the Sling brand. EchoStar has also amassed an extensive portfolio of spectrum licenses and is building a nationwide wireless network. It acquired Sprint's prepaid business, serving approximately 7 million customers, primarily under the Boost brand. The firm has agreed to sell a portion of its wireless licenses to AT&T and will rely heavily on the AT&T network to serve customers. EchoStar's legacy businesses provide satellite telecom services and equipment to businesses and consumers, including about 800,000 internet customers.