History of Southwest Airlines

Common card · No. 491031

Southwest Airlines was founded in 1966 by Herbert Kelleher and Rollin King, and incorporated as Air Southwest Co. in 1967. The company planned to operate as an intrastate airline, flying a Texas Triangle network between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. By flying only within the state of Texas Southwest would be exempt from regulation by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board, allowing it to undercut the prices of competitors. Three other airlines (Braniff, Trans-Texas, and Continental) sued to prevent the company from starting up. The lawsuits were resolved in 1970, and in 1971 the airline changed its name to Southwest Airlines. In 1975, Southwest began flying to other cities in Texas, and in 1979, after passage of the Airline Deregulation Act, it began flying to adjacent states. It started service to the East and the Southeast in the 1990s, and Denver in 2006, which is now its most popular destination. Southwest Airlines was profitable for 47 consecutive fiscal years, from 1973 through 2019...

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