Southwest Airlines Community

When Southwest began operations in 1971, it was toward the end of the war in Vietnam.  Many of our younger male Employees were Vietnam vets, and many of the older Employees who came to us from other airlines were World War II and Korean War Vets.  Our appreciation of those who served our country by marching, flying, or sailing into harm’s way was evident pretty much from “day one” of our operations.  It’s not surprising then that one of the favorite spots for Southwest’s early publicity photos has a military connection.  It also doesn’t hurt that the photos include our Flight Attendants.   That spot is the San Jacinto battleground outside of Houston, and it is where Sam Houston defeated Mexican General Santa Ana to secure Texas’ independence.  The San Jacinto Monument figures in some of those publicity photos.  Also located at the battleground is the battleship, USS Texas.  Here in a photo from 1971 or 1972, we see one of our original Flight Attendants, Mary Skwarlo, standing in front of the Texas.  This ship has an amazing history, having served in both World War I and World War II.  When she was launched in 1912, the Texas was the most powerful weapon in the world.  During the first war, also known as “the war to end all wars,” the Texas served alongside Royal Navy ships based at Scapa Flow in the northern Scottish islands.  We have forgotten, but the battleship was the most feared weapon in the world during the first part of the 20 th Century.  After World War I, the victors signed a treaty limiting the size and number of battleships the world’s countries could build—much like we have signed similar treaties about nuclear weapons today.  This had the side effect of helping spur the development of the aircraft carrier.   We returned to the Texas a year or so later for more photos, and this time, Flight Attendant Chris Winslow is posing on the ship’s foredeck, underneath two of the ship’s ten 14-inch guns.  The measurement refers to the diameter of the shells fired.  More modern battleships like those of the recently retired Iowa class used 16-inch guns with even bigger shells.  Each battleship shell contained a massive amount of explosives.  Imagine a shell weighing the equivalent of an original VW Beetle being shot 20 nautical miles through the air at almost 2,700 feet per second, and it’s no wonder that, during the first Gulf War, many Iraqi troops occupying Kuwait feared the Missouri and Wisconsin more than any other weapon.    Chris’s location on the foredeck is a traditional spot for entertainers visiting battleships.  In the 1936 Busby Berkeley movie, Born to Dance, Eleanor Powell and a host of dancers perform in this spot on a battleship set that was built on a back lot.  In a scene reminiscent of this movie, Cher recorded her 1988 video of “If I Could Turn Back Time” on the foredeck of the Missouri.  During World War II, the picture above shows a USO troupe performing for the sailors of the Texas in a similar location on the ship.   More than a photo backdrop or a video set, the Texas was a warrior.  It is the only remaining battleship to have served in both world wars.  During World War II, it was a part of some of the most crucial and bloodiest battles of the war.  After supporting the landings in North Africa, its big guns were in the waters off Omaha Beach in Normandy during D-Day.  A German coastal battery scored two hits on the ship, but it was quickly repaired.  In 1945, those big guns prepared the beaches of Iwo Jima and Okinawa for the Marine landings.  After the war in 1948, the Texas came home to its namesake state as a museum.   Besides the Texas, several newer battleships built just before or during World War II are on display around our system.  The New Jersey is displayed at Camden, across the river from Philadelphia; the Massachusetts is at Fall River (near Boston); the Wisconsin is docked at Norfolk, Virginia; the Alabama is at Mobile (close to Panama City, Florida); and the North Carolina is at Wilmington (closest to Raleigh-Durham).  As to the Texas, this gallant veteran of two world wars is in danger of being destroyed after resting for over 60 years in the Houston Ship Channel.  A project is underway to move the ship to a dry dock to serve as her permanent home.  If all goes well, the project will be completed in 2017, a little more than 100 years after her launching.  (For more info, click here.)  Several generations of sailors fought in this ship to protect our freedoms.  To those veterans who sailed in the Texas and all her sister ships, we thank you.  ... View more

The photo above showing Flight Attendants running toward the camera is one of the best known icons representing Southwest Airlines’ early days.  A color version of this photo graces the cover of the June 2011 40 th Anniversary issue of Spirit magazine.  This photo from 1972 is such a key image, that at least three different times across the years, we have done an updated version with Flight Attendants wearing their current uniforms.  Thanks to our archives, we can look at how this photo was made—kind of like a “director’s cut” on a DVD, and some of the photos below have never been displayed.   The airplane star of the show is N23SW.  It is the only 737 we have operated with a main deck cargo door, and it was delivered to us in September 1971.  N23SW was also the first airplane to wear what is now our standard titling without the word “airlines.”  Here we see our folks moving aircraft around in preparation for the shoot—N23SW is on the left, and the aircraft on the right (I was unable to identify which of our original three it is) still wears the airlines titles.  N23SW will be the main backdrop for the photographic efforts, and the older aircraft will appear in the background of some shots.   Once the aircraft were situated, the director of the shoot (in dark clothes) tries to get the Flight Attendants in the correct order.  My guess is that they were as hard to corral as some of us today in similar situations.  The buildings on the far left help us place the site of the shoot in front of the original Southwest hangar at Love Field.   Like so many photo shoots, lots of photos were taken to get just the right one.  It looks like the photographer was experimenting with a close shot here, but the effect is pretty chaotic as the “Conga Line” has lost any resemblance of order.  The Flight Attendants on the left are also out of focus.  For my fellow aviation geeks, the nose of the second older aircraft is to the left of the photo behind the boots.    Judging by where this negative is located on the original roll of film, we are looking at the Flight Attendants returning back to the aircraft for another running shot.  The second aircraft is a lot more visible in this shot, and the Employee on the right appears to be either searching for someone or trying to listen to someone “off-camera.”   The photographer tried a few overhead shots, probably from a “cherry picker” because there is a “low altitude” and a “high altitude” version.  This is the low option, and it’s hard to judge what kind of shape the Flight Attendants were trying to form.  In almost all of the aerial photos, either someone is out of position, or someone is adjusting their hair or looking away from the camera.  The photographer apparently eventually gave up, although later in the same batch of negatives, we have aerial shots showing a sampling of all the Employee groups at the time, and that photo did receive wide circulation.  A few more items of note in this photo:  The blast fences for Love Field’s run-up area are just above the airplane’s wing tip in the right of the photo.  Those fences were replaced a few years ago with taller ones, but this is still the area where engines can be run by all the airport tenants to check maintenance work.  It’s only visible on an enlargement, but just above the engine to the left of the aircraft is American’s hangar, where a DC-10 is parked.  On the other side of the aircraft between the fuselage and the blast fence, the North Concourse is visible in the distance, and a Frontier 737 is parked there.   Again, we have proof that a split second in time can last forever through the magic of photography.  When we see a photo like the one at the top of the page, two things happen:  One is that we are instantly taken back to that time and place and become a part of that scene.  The other confirms that a photo is worth a 1,000 words.  Our iconic image symbolizes what Southwest was like during our formative years—edgy, rebellious, and different.  In many ways, the photo opens a window to our Company’s soul and legacy.  And, the fact that these other "cutting-room floor" photos show our Coworkers from an earlier time being a little bit rambunctious is just icing on the cake. ... View more

This coming April, I celebrate my 17 th year with Southwest Airlines, and for all of my tenure, Halloween has been a big deal.  In my new role as Corporate Historian, I’ve been asked, “When did Southwest start celebrating Halloween?” and I don’t have a concrete answer.  I wish I could quote the exact date of that, but to now, that certainty has eluded me.  I did find a reference from 1972, less than a year after we started, about our Flight Attendants celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and Easter (dressed as bunny rabbits), but nothing that firm on Halloween.  However, the Halloween photos below help us date Southwest Halloween back to our earliest years.   Count Dracula appears to like this Flight Attendant (Hostess back then).  The uniform she is wearing was introduced in September 1974 and was the primary uniform until 1977, so we can date the photo to 1974, 1975, or 1976.  (Dracula’s uniform dates to the Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel)  There’s no word if our Flight Attendant was banished to flights between sunset and sunrise after this encounter of the weird kind.   This trio of Halloween beauties is checking in for their first flight of the day.  You might label this photo “Two Gypsies and a Bug.”  I wonder if the “bug’s” costume was inspired by the boy who stands behind Ralphie while they wait to see Santa in the movie, A Christmas Story.  Today, our Flight Crews can’t wear head-to-toe costumes, so these photos really are historical relics—but I’ve seen some good-looking Halloween “flair” out there in more recent years.    Our photographer follows the ladies onto the airplane.  The Gypsy on the right of the photo has now shed her cloak on the airplane, and the bug in the middle has lost her “bug eyes” sometime after boarding the airplane.  The “wide-body” style overheads date this shot to the late 70s or early 80s.    For this final photo, we have a date, Halloween Day 1977, and it shows that our airport Employees also got into the Halloween spirit at a very early date.  A cowgirl works next to a witch (Are you a good witch or a bad witch?).  It was taken at the Dallas Ticket Counter, then located in the building’s baggage claim wing.  Beyond the witch, we have an expectant mother and a “baby girl” to her left.  Behind those two is Catwoman.  Besides the Halloween theme, this photo gives us a good idea of the tools that our Employees at the counter used back then.  The Cowgirl Agent has several bunches of heart-shaped bag tags ready to use, along with an ink pad and four rubber stamps.  The bag tags closest to her are for Houston Hobby.  She has a small spiral notebook in front of her, along with a handwritten ticket.  Just to the left of her left hand is the credit card validater, and toward the back of the counter is the key pad for the phone.  It looks as though the ticket counters have changed over to pushbutton phones at this point of time.  Above the phone, and barely visible, are the buttons to select a phone line.  The edge of a white box at the bottom center of the photo is a cash register to dispense tickets.  The T-shirt of Passenger on the left says, “I am an empiricist because”, and we have no reason why that was (or even what an “empiricist is”) because it seems the answer is on the back of his shirt.   One reason I like looking at these old workplace photos is that, while they show the way we work may have changed, how we work is still the same.  Whether it is 1977 or 2011, having fun is part of the workday.  ... View more

After the merger with AirTran was announced, two of their cities took on special interest for me because I worked in both Atlanta (ATL) and Dayton (DAY) for Delta.  I wrote about ATL before AirTran a while back, and today, it’s DAY’s turn.   Dayton lays legitimate claim to being the birthplace of aviation because, even though the Wright’s first flight was in North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur designed and built their Flyer at their Dayton bicycle shop.  Today, the nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base houses the amazing Air Force Museum, one of the absolute best air museums in the world and a “must-see” for any aviation geek. (The photo above is the restored Continental DC-3 at DAY.)   Unfortunately, the DAY Airport north of the city has lacked that kind of prominence.  During the 1960s and 1970s, Delta had a large operation that even included the L-1011 TriStar.  In fact, Delta had looked at making DAY their Mid West hub, but its lack of freeway access at the time caused the hub to go to the Cincinnati Airport in Northern Kentucky.  Later, Piedmont had a Dayton hub, complete with a reservation center.  This later became a US Air hub after the two airlines merged.  After the merger, US Air had too many hubs in the same general geographic area, so DAY was reduced.  Emery Worldwide built a large freight hub at DAY, utilizing DC-8s of almost every model, and it was one of the world’s largest air freight facilities at the time.  Unfortunately, Emery shut down in December 2001.  In recent years, AirTran has made its mark in DAY, and currently they operate five daily Atlanta nonstops, three nonstops to Baltimore/Washington and an Orlando nonstop.  But this post is designed to show what came before, and the photos below are a slice of daily life at DAY in 1994.   We start with Delta, since they are one of the longest serving airlines at the airport.  At the time I was there, we had five daily flights to ATL (four nonstops and a one-stopper at Louisville).  All the flights were operated by MD-88s.  We had a vintage air conditioning truck from the early 1950s that was built on a Ford chassis and had a diesel engine the equal of a railroad locomotive to run the heat and air conditioning unit.  It’s interesting to note that once AirTran began serving DAY, Delta upgraded their flights to Boeing 757s.  With their current schedule, they are back to five MD-80s a day to ATL—all nonstop this time.   The other Delta presence at DAY was Comair, and they flew a mix of SAAB 340s, Embraer 120s, and Canadair RJs like the one above.  Comair and Delta flew out of the B Concourse.  Delta originally had their own concourse with six gates, but they moved from the D Concourse to former TWA gates on B.   TWA operated out of B next to us with 727 nonstops to St. Louis, and I was amazed that the most junior TWA employee had 32 years of service and could only work part time.  In 1968, TWA had nonstops from DAY to JFK in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Louisville, and Indianapolis.  American operated Fokker 100 service to DFW off this concourse, and the rest of the gates were used by commuter carriers.  Above is an Air Wisconsin BAe-146 operating a flight for United.   Simmons Airlines operated ATR-42s for American to Chicago O’Hare (above), and Chicago Express operated BAe Jetstream 31s for ATA Airlines to Chicago Midway from the B Concourse.   US Air (they hadn’t become US Airways yet) used the B Concourse, but they were soon joined by DAY’s first low-cost carrier, Continental Lite, with service to Cleveland and Greensboro, North Carolina.  To kick off the service, Continental brought their immaculately restored DC-3 to DAY.  Above is the DC-3, with a DC-9 parked to the left on the C Concourse, and the former Delta D Concourse is to the right.  In the background is the old tower on top of the terminal building.   For an aviation geek airline Employee, one of the great things about working in DAY (besides the close proximity to the Air Force Museum) is the annual Dayton Air Show, held at the airport.  One runway is devoted to the show with exhibits lined up next to it.  Also a bit unusual was the annual Grand American World Trap Shooting Championships held on the south edge of the airport.  It was a bit disconcerting to be on the ramp and hear a constant volley of shotguns.  The championships moved to Illinois a few years back, but the range is still there. ... View more

Back in the time before satellite programming, small town radio stations lived on remote broadcasts from “Joe’s Market,” or the town’s one Chevy-Olds-Pontiac-Buick-Cadillac-GMC dealer.  Basically, those AM stations were doing anything to squeeze an advertising buck out of a small market, and they would go wherever an advertising customer might be.  Southwest’s marketing approach was a lot like that in our early days.  After looking back through our vintage photo files, it looks like we never met a promotion we didn’t like.  Case in point is this week’s Flashback Friday.   By now, you are asking “Who are these critters, anyway?” and why are they on a Southwest Airlines airplane.  Fortunately, thanks to a fading press release from October 14, 1973, we know the “who” and the “when” of these photos, not to mention the “where.”  The “who” is these are Kid’s Kounty Kharacters from what the press release calls “the SuperfunSuperstore for Kids.”  We see Peter Panda, Dirty Bird, Hugh the Shoe, and Connie Cone as they deplane off a Southwest Airlines aircraft in Houston.  The big event was the opening of their two new prototype stores in Houston, which sold everything from toys to pets to bicycles, furniture, clothes and Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream.  There is more to these photos than a long lost promotion, however.  For the serious aviation student, consider this.  Kid’s Kounty was owned by the W.R. Grace & Co.  In Peru during the 1800s, Grace formed a steamship line to serve the West Coast of South America, and it eventually formed an airline with Pan American called Pan American-Grace or popularly, Panagra.  (Braniff later merged with Panagra.)  Also Southwest students will notice that the airplane wears the original titling with “SOUTHWEST AIRLINES” on the tail.  This style of marking began to disappear in 1972 with the arrival of our fourth aircraft and the later sale of one of our original three.  Based on the late date of the photo, this is probably the last one (and maybe last date) of our aircraft with the original titles.  As you can see in some of the photos, the airplane is more than ready to be repainted as the elements have sandblasted the nose back to bare metal. One of the iconic Southwest Photos of our early days has our Flight Attendants lined up on the aircraft steps.  It looks as though the photographer is trying to recreate this classic photo using the Kharacters and our Flight Attendants,.   This photo looks also looks like it is paying homage to another classic photo—the one with a line of Flight Attendants running toward the camera.   Although they are far from being typical Customers, this photo inside the Houston Hobby gate house shows some of the first screening equipment used at airports around the country.  On January 5, 1973 was the deadline set by the Federal Aviation Administration for airlines to screen passengers and their carryon luggage.  Here we see the Hobby gate area with an early magnetometer. These young “Kustomers” seem overwhelmed by Ms. Cone and Mr. Shoe.  It doesn't look as though the Kid’s Kounty idea never spread beyond Houston, but maybe the time wasn’t right for the “superstore” concept. ... View more

At the time, it seemed enormous, and it was truly state of the art.  On August 28, 1986, our original Flight Operations Training Center opened.  Tucked between Hangar 5 and the three-story portion of Headquarters, the building actually predates the Headquarters Building, which opened in 1990.  Today, the building serves as the Maintenance Training Center and Engine Shop, and our massive Flight Ops Training Center occupies the southern part of our campus.  Twenty-five years ago, when the original building opened, it also housed Inflight Training, and its proper title was the “Southwest Airlines Training Center.”  Above, the sign out front welcomes everyone to the new facility.   Like most buildings, this one began with a groundbreaking ceremony.  Herb is joined by eight other hard-hatted executives wielding silver shovels.   Unless it was just coincidence that he was wearing the same suit, shirt, and tie, it looks like the cornerstone ceremony was also held the same day as groundbreaking.  Each participant placed their hands in wet concrete, and then they wrote something in the concrete.  No doubt, Herb’s comments were wittier than the rest.  I wonder if the builders  went ahead and put flooring over all the signatures.  If so, we might get to see them (and the comments) again, when and if the building is razed.   Inside the building was the first 737-200/300 simulator in the United States.  Designed by Redifussion in the United Kingdom, the unit cost $8 million.  The local television stations deemed the event newsworthy enough to cover.    Inside the cockpit of the simulator, Herb gives Southwest’s latest investment a look, as Training Center Employees explain the system to him.  Today, although the -200s have been retired, this simulator is still hard at work doing what it has done for a quarter century--training Southwest Pilots.  The Training Center operates eight simulators in a bay that has space for additional units as they train our approximately 6,000 Pilots. ... View more

The ten-minute turn is an indelible part of our history.  To use a sports cliché, it was an example of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.  Given the importance of this operational procedure to our survival, and its equal importance to our public reputation of an airline marching to the beat of its own drums, I really am surprised that there isn’t a photographic layout or video showing a quick turn in action.  However, it’s possible to repurpose photo shoots for other articles to accomplish the same thing. Dennis Lardon, a retired Original Employee, was obviously the center of attention for the photographer’s camera.  I hope he will forgive me for the photo at the top of the blog.  I don’t know at what point during the shoot it was taken, but it looks like a still photo from the great movie, Citizen Kane.   Moving to things more aeronautic; the photo above shows Dennis marshalling the aircraft to the gate.  The lack of jetways would indicate that this is San Antonio.   The Crew is given the stop signal, and the ten-minute turn clock is operating.  The aircraft is N22SW, which of our three original 737s, had the longest career with Southwest.  Since the world "AIRLINES" has been removed from the livery (and those double-knit plaids), we can date this to 1972 or later.   Looking above, we see the choreography involved in turning an airplane in ten minutes.  The passenger stairs aren’t even fully deployed yet, but the fuel truck has arrived and is preparing to hook up to the wing.  The ramp is already unloading inbound bags, and the outbound bags are lined up in position to board.   Both the front and aft stairs are fully deployed, and Customers are deplaning through both doors.  Dennis has left two clean trash cans off to the side of the stairs.  Once folks are through deplaning, he can quickly pull the dirty cans and replace them with the clean ones.   Passengers are in the boarding process, and the ramp area around the aircraft is ready to go.  All of the outbound bags have been loaded, and the cargo bin door has probably been closed.  The aft passenger door is closed and ready for departure.  As soon as the last Customer is inside the cabin, the front door will be buttoned up, the stairs retracted, and the flight will be ready for taxi.  Because the airplane parked parallel to the concourse, no tow bar or pushback tug is needed. A lot of industry experts said we could never routinely turn an aircraft in ten minutes, but we did  It’s still just as true today as it was 40 years ago:  An airplane sitting at the gate doesn’t make any money. ... View more

Customer Support & Services (CS&S) is our department formerly known as Reservations.  These hard working folks with the pleasant voices on the phone have been an essential part of our success since day one, but because Customers interact over the phone with them, they never get to see them in action like they do our Airport and Inflight folks.  I am also sorry to say that there are gaps in our archives of pictures of Reservations hard at work in the early days.  That’s why I was so excited to discover a big manila envelope with “Early Reservations History” written by hand across the top.  Inside are these three very early photos taken in what I think was our first Dallas Res Center.   The occasion for the photos was a notice in The Southwest Airlines Magazine, our original inflight publication that was entitled “MORE PHONES TO SERVE YOU.”  It goes on to explain that due to a “rapid increase in passengers, Southwest is rapidly increasing the number of telephone lines to reservations.”  There are so many interesting gems of information in these photos, let’s take the time to explore each individually.  The first photo above shows Bill Franklin, one of our first three Vice Presidents, and Geri Campbell.  Today, we would say that the box in front of them represents the “memory” of all the booked reservations.  That would be true, but the memory is stored on paper written in pencil by hand.  Except for today’s and the next day’s flights, the box holds all the future reservations made at the time for all of Southwest’s flights.  Also note the size of the room.  Today our six Centers (San Antonio, Houston, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, and Chicago) have hundreds of Employees on duty each day.  The lady behind Bill’s left elbow is at position 14—it doesn’t look like there’s room for many more.  The note on the blackboard says; “All flights scheduled and running.”   The next photo above gives us some insight into the “technology” available to each Reservations Agent.  There’s not a computer, monitor, or touch-button phone to be seen in any of these photos, although it does look like the Agents have light-weight headsets.  To the left of the control panel is a printed flight schedule, with some kind of a control box or timer to the right of the phone console.  We must have had a computer somewhere because the book into which she is writing contains computer printouts.  My guess is that this is the master inventory, and when a seat was sold, a checkmark was made next to the flight.  She is the only agent with this book and a box of reservations next to her, so she probably is a control agent.  I don’t know if you can see it, but there is a track under the superstructure that holds the phone.  As Agents complete a Reservation Card, it went in the track which carried it to this Employee.  She pulled the card, checked off the seats booked on the inventory sheet, and then filed the Res Card into the box to her left.  My guess is that this held today’s and tomorrow’s flights.    Above, we see an Agent changing a reservation on the Reservation Cards.  But before that, look around her work space.  On top of her phone is a calendar from Continental featuring a DC-10.  From the calendar, we can see that these photos were taken in March, 1974.  At that time, we only flew between our three original cities, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.  To the right of the phone is a copy of the North American edition of the Official Airline Guide which lists schedules of all airlines.  The Reservations Cards are simplicity.  At the top are two spaces for Passenger names, in this case, a “J Everett” and an “N. Percy.”  In the first vertical column are the origin and destination.  The two cards to her left are from “H” (Houston) to “D” (Dallas).  The next column is the flight number, in this case, Flight #12, followed by travel date.  The top left card is for travel on 3-8, and after the date is the status of the reservation, which is “XX” which would mean canceled.  The last column is the number in the party, which is two in this case.  The bottom left card shows the party rebooked on the same flight for March 25.  Sherry Atlas is the Reservation Agent.   As always, any Employees who can add any detail are invited to comment. ... View more

Click here to read a blog post written by our Founder Emeritus, Herb Kelleher. ... View more

Contest Celebrates 40 Years of Commitment to the Communities Southwest Serves DALLAS, July 12, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Southwest Airlines celebrates the airline's 40th year of service and commitment to the communities where our Customers work and live by giving 40 deserving nonprofit organizations the chance to win 40 roundtrip tickets each. Nonprofit organizations focused on community initiatives that concentrate on education, diversity, military, environment, or families facing serious illness will share their stories and explain how they will use the 40 tickets to achieve their missions in the community. "Southwest is thrilled to spread the LUV by giving 40 nonprofit organizations the opportunity to receive 40 roundtrip tickets each to help champion their cause and positive impact in the community," said Linda Rutherford, Southwest Airlines' Vice President Communication and Strategic Outreach. "Our goal is to be the hometown carrier that truly cares by being involved in initiatives that resonate in the hearts of those in the communities we serve." Starting today through the end of day on July 14, nonprofit organizations can submit a photo illustrating the positive work they do in the community along with their compelling story to showingluvfor40years@wnco.com to explain how they make an impact in their community for the chance to win 40 roundtrip tickets. To view contest details, official rules, and to submit an entry, visit blogsouthwest.com. In its 40th year of service, Southwest Airlines continues to differentiate itself from other low-fare carriers--offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded and has recently acquired AirTran Airways, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co. Southwest serves 72 cities in 37 states and is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet. To read more about how Southwest is doing its part to be a good citizen, visit southwest.com/cares to read the Southwest Airlines One Report(TM). Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,400 flights a day and has more than 35,000 Employees systemwide. www.southwest.com SOURCE Southwest Airlines ... View more

We are about a month away from opening day at one of the world’s great aviation events, Air Venture 2011 at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  What could be better than warm Midwest summer days, cool summer nights, and airplanes from sunrise to sunset?   Since I wrote my last blog post, some amazing aircraft have committed to the show.  The brand new Boeing 787 will be on display Friday, July 29.  The world’s largest flying airship will be there as Zeppelin NT makes its first Oshkosh visit.  The airship is 246 feet long, which is 15 feet longer than a 747!  It will be conducting 45-minute public flights throughout the show.  This year is the 100 th Anniversary of Naval and Marine Corps Aviation, and the list of naval aircraft attending is hugely impressive ranging from current aircraft like the F-18 Hornet, P-3 Orion, C-2 Greyhound, to World War II planes like the Dauntless dive bomber, Wildcat fighter, Corsair fighter, Avenger torpedo bomber, Helldiver dive bomber, Catalina flying boat, to postwar classics like the Skyraider, Skyhawk, Tigercat, and Bearcat.  As part of our sponsorship of Honor Flights, we will operate an Honor Flight on Wednesday, July 27, that will take primarily Navy and Marine Corps World War II Veterans to Washington, D.C.  The Veterans will visit the World War II Memorial, and then return home to a hero’s welcome at Oshkosh.  That night, Naval Aviators and former Apollo Astronauts, Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan will recall their Navy and NASA careers.  Come by and see us at the Visitor’s Center’s Internet Café every day of the show.  We are especially looking forward to Saturday, July 30, which is Super Saturday.  The day starts with a hot air balloon launce, one of our 737s will be on display, and it tops out with a nighttime air show, a concert, and the ability to mingle with the Night Air Show performers... The thing I enjoy most about AirVenture is just walking among all these historic aircraft.  It’s the most amazing aviation gathering you will ever visit.  For more information about the show visit the AirVenture web site.   ... View more

Recently, we’ve been looking at some Southwest “what ifs,” and wondering how life would have been different had various scenarios played out.  Here’s another one for you:  What if I told you Southwest had received governmental approval to begin service out of Chicago Midway almost two years before we operated our first flight out of Texas?  Well, it’s true, and it’s an interesting story because of what did and didn’t happen.   The story actually begins in December of 1976.  This is prior to the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, and except for the intrastate carriers in California and Southwest, the airline industry is still firmly in control of the federal Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).  The year 1976 was especially contentious for Southwest with repeated court battles about Harlingen service that had begun a year before.  Southwest had also applied with the Texas Aeronautics Commission for authority to serve additional points in Texas, and this request too had come under legal attack.  At the same time, the battle was raging to remain at Love Field.  Against that backdrop, Southwest forms a subsidiary airline, Midway (Southwest) Airway Co., to operate low fare service from Chicago Midway to St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland.  All while Southwest proper still was just serving four cities.   The CAB begins hearings on Midway (Southwest)’s application 13 months later on January 31, 1978.  The new airline promises to serve the cities on its route map with fares up to 53 percent lower than existing fares.  The basic fare would have been $25 one-way for Pleasure Class (off-peak) and $40 one way for Executive Class.  Midway (Southwest) tells the CAB that nine 737s would be needed and Lamar Muse states that early 1979 would be the earliest flights could begin.  Again, 1978 is the year of Deregulation, and Alfred Kahn, Chairman of the CAB, is a firm proponent of airline competition.  As a result, Midway (Southwest)’s application flies through the CAB, and final approval is given on July 14, 1978, for the new airline to begin service.   A month later on August 11, “Southwest announces that its wholly owned subsidiary, Midway (Southwest) Airway Co., will for the time being, defer its plans for the commencement of service from Chicago Midway.”  And that’s the last mention of this curious chapter of Southwest Airlines.   So what happened?  These are my personal conclusions, based on the political and regulatory climates, and they aren’t based on any official conclusions.  I think the reason Southwest proposed the new airline was that every expansion move it made in Texas immediately received expensive and protracted legal challenges.  The possibility of operating as a interstate airline under CAB control (and protection!) offered a “plan B” in case any of the many legal cases crippled Southwest.  It may have also been a warning shot to some of the airlines trying to put Southwest out of business that you may also have to fight us across the Midwest AND Texas.   Lamar Muse resigns, about a month after the CAB hearings begin, and Howard Putnam replaces him on August 11.  One factor that had to figure in these changes at the top s was what to do with Midway (Southwest), and it’s obvious the decision was made to concentrate on Southwest.  The irony is that, with the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act, Southwest wouldn’t need approval to serve those proposed Midwestern routes on its own.  In fact, a new Midway Airlines was formed, completely independent of Southwest, to serve those routes and more from Chicago.  When the airline fails, Southwest moves into Midway in big way, and the station is now one of our busiest.  As for Lamar, he later founded Muse Air to fly longer routes, but it was based in Texas instead of Chicago.   So, once again, when one path has seemed a certainty, fate has stepped in to change direction, or more accurately in the case of Midway (Southwest) to prevent a change of direction. ... View more

If you look at all the twists of fate involved with Southwest’s beginnings, it’s amazing Southwest got off the ground, much less lasted 40 years.  I’ve always been amazed that just the right person for just the right situation seems to come along with amazing prescience.  Then just this morning, I was looking for references on something completely different, when a generally unknown nugget of information fell in my lap.  At first, it didn’t register with me what I had just read, but then I slowed down and read it again, and I realized that I was reading something so profound that, if it had of happened as planned, it would have been one of those landmark events that changed our Company forever.  (above Herb Kelleher and Rollin King)   Rollin and Lamar Muse I was looking through LUVLines from 1986 searching for information about a photo that was shot at the 15 th Anniversary Awards Banquet.  I looked in the June issue first, and didn’t find it, so I checked the next issue, which was August.  I didn’t find it there either, but I did find a short article from Southwest Cofounder, Rollin King.  Actually, Rollin had written the piece for the June anniversary issue, but it arrived too late and was carried over to August.  In it, he talks about shaking Captain Salazar’s hand before closing the door on our first scheduled flight.  He also reminisces about the dedication of the Rollin W. King aircraft.  And then comes Rollin’s description of a historical nugget about which I was totally unfamiliar.  He writes: One of the funniest things that has happened to me at Southwest was an event that never took place.  In early 1968, myself and two other members of our Board, Robert S. Strauss and John D. Murchison, almost completed a merger of Trans Texas Airways with Southwest Airlines, where Southwest would have been the surviving carrier.  We negotiated with the representative of the then owners and had a deal so close to being made that it was just a matter of crossing some t’s and dotting some i’s.  At the last minute, they walked away from the deal, and we never knew why.  The funny thing is that, except for that mercurial act of walking away, Southwest would have been in business three years earlier, and there would have been no Texas International or Texas Air Corporation. Wow!  I call that a historical bombshell.  But before you go looking at all the “ifs,” keep in mind that, especially under Civil Aeronautics Board regulations, airline mergers were tedious, politically charged affairs that could take up to years for approval, so there is a good possibility that the merger might never had happened, even if all parties had agreed.  Still, if it had happened, you have to think Southwest/Trans Texas would have moved to DFW Airport.  Without the Texas Air Corporation, their later mergers with PeoplExpress, Continental, New York Air, Frontier, and the acquisition of Eastern might not have happened.  Yes, this nonevent gives us a lot of fodder for speculation, but we already have a bucketful of “what ifs” to ponder.  What if Herb had taken a job on Wall Street instead of moving to Texas?  (Or had chosen Houston over San Antonio?)  What if Rollin hadn’t needed a lawyer?  What if the “Over the Hill Gang” had opted for retirement instead of a new three-aircraft airline?  What if Colleen had never left Bellows Falls?  We will never know because fate conspired to select the path that Southwest has followed for 40 years.  In that respect, fate has shaped the company we are and the culture we cherish.   ... View more