Southwest Airlines, Inc.

Company Background/Business Model

Southwest Airlines, Inc. began in 1966 as an idea of Rollin King, an entrepreneur who owned a small commuter air service. The business model for the airlines was to attract passengers by flying convenient schedules, getting passengers to their destination on time at the lowest possible fares, and making sure they had a good experience. The airlines would service travelers going between Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. During the inception more than 30 years ago SWA didn't have a smooth take-off when it received the permission to fly the skies. Their competitors such as Continental Airlines, Texas International and Braniff took them to court and obtained an order to bar them from flying until a decision was reached at the trial. The argument put forward by these three airlines was that there was not enough traffic to support the existing airline companies. The court ruled in favor of these three companies.

English: Herbert D. Kelleher (b. 1931), co-founder...

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft parked on...

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 (N626SW) pictu...

SWA was represented by Herb Kelleher in the follow up trials held at the Appellate court where they lost and at the Texas Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court where they won both the times and received permission to start flying.

Southwest Airlines is the fifth largest airline company in America, operating more than 2,100 flights per day and carrying over 44 million passengers a year to 50 different cities all over the United States. Southwest boasts the best on-time record, best baggage handling, and fewest customer complaints in the airline industry and won the industry's Triple Crown award for Best Airline five times in a row from 1992-96. It was the first airline with a frequent flyer program to give credit for the number of trips taken, not just the number of miles flown, and also pioneered senior discounts, Fun Fares, Fun...