Southwest Airlines
Introduction
Southwest Airlines was originally incorporated to serve three cities in Texas as Air Southwest on March 15, 1967, by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. According to frequently-cited story, King described the concept to Kelleher over dinner by drawing on a paper napkin a triangle symbolizing the routes (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio). However, its operations were delayed due to court battles brought by competitors over new entrance into the Texas intrastate market. Despite the fact it began operations in 1971 under the name of Southwest Airlines. At the beginning, King and Kelleher, founders of Southwest saw the opportunity of aviation industry as follows:
The complaint of air service in Texas: King and Kelleher were familiar with the complaint of high fares, late flight and infrequent flight.
Furthermore, at that time, intrastate flights were not offered. King and Kelleher grasped this opportunity and then established Southwest Airlines. King and Kelleher started the business with a simple idea "If you get the passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make them sure that they have a good time doing it; people will fly your airline”.
Southwest Airlines satisfied passengers by offering low fare, frequent flight and on time arrival and departure.
For the first years the main competitors of the company are Braniff and Texas International Airlines which now defunct by the competition with the Southwest Airlines. Price wars began between them. Braniff airlines began charging $13 for its Dallas-Houston Hobby flights. Southwest offered travelers the opportunity to pay $13 or $26 and receive a free bottle of liquor. More than 75% of the passengers chose ...