It has been great fun this past year building support for “Herb Kelleher Way” and taking part in the dedication ceremony that took place Tuesday at Dallas Love Field. It was the right thing to do and the right time to do it. I especially enjoyed giving the old boy some grief before the City Council and before the great Southwest crowd that showed up for the dedication. Needless to say, he fired back as he always has, and always will.
Herb has been my legal adversary (I was general counsel of Texas International Airlines), my boss (he hired me at Southwest after I left Braniff), my mentor, and my competitor (I was foolish enough to leave Southwest to become President of Muse Air), but most of all, my very precious friend.
Herb is an aviation icon. The old guy also turned eighty earlier this year. Although most of us think he will go on for another eighty years (he claims the secret is Wild Turkey and cigarettes), I’ve learned that you don’t put important things off if you can help it. The fact that Southwest turns forty this month made this an even more appropriate time to act.
Were it not for Herb Kelleher, Love Field would not exist today as a commercial aviation airport.
Lots of folks weren’t here during the early seventies and don’t know the airline battles of that era. They don’t know the history of Love Field, or the role Herb played in preserving it as a commercial aviation airport.
During those years the City of Dallas, the City of Fort Worth, and almost all the business and political leaders in the Metroplex did their best to close Love Field and force Southwest Airlines to move to DFW. When DFW opened in 1974, there was concern that if Love Field remained open it would undermine the financial foundation of the new airport. At one point, the Dallas City Council passed an ordinance trying to prohibit commercial air service at Love Field. The city even leased out the main rotunda of the airport for an ice skating rink. Southwest did not have a long term lease on its headquarters and terminal facilities at Love Field until 1984. It operated on a month to month basis in a pretty darn hostile environment.
Herb fought a long and often lonely battle during those years to keep Love Field open and to preserve the right of Southwest to operate there. He had to take the battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before the issue was resolved. Fortunately, he prevailed, Southwest stayed at Love Field, and the rest is history.
Today, Love Field is widely recognized as one of the most important and precious assets owned by the City of Dallas. Southwest Airlines provides or supports thousands of jobs in the area and Love Field provides billions of dollars of economic benefit. It is a jewel that is becoming even more important as we move toward completion of the new terminal and the final elimination of the Wright Amendment in October of 2014. At that time, Southwest will have the right to fly non stop to any U.S. city. Southwest Customers will then truly have the freedom to move about the country. None of this would have been possible except for the efforts of Herb Kelleher.
I have discussed “Herb Kelleher Way” with many business and political leaders. The Dallas City Council was unanimous in its support of the idea. While I was fearful that Herb might not want me to do it, I decided it was none of his damn business. Actually, when he did learn of my efforts he was thrilled and wrote me one of the nicest notes I have ever received.
It was the right thing to do and the right time to do it. I’m thankful for having been able to play a small part in making “Herb Kelleher Way” a reality.