Southwest Airlines was set up in 1967 by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King. The story goes that they sketched a triangle linking Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio on a cocktail napkin. Rival airlines tied the newcomer up in court for years. The first paying flight did not take off until June 18, 1971, four years later. Southwest started from Dallas Love Field with a handful of Boeing 737s.
The airline built a simple formula: low fares, quick turnarounds, one aircraft type, direct city-to-city flying, and cheeky service. Quick turnarounds kept planes in the air longer. Budget airlines everywhere later copied the model. After the government loosened airline rules in 1978, Southwest spread beyond Texas. It absorbed Morris Air in 1993 and AirTran Airways in 2011. AirTran brought its first international routes, to the Caribbean and Latin America.
The Wright Amendment, a law limiting long flights from Love Field, was fully repealed in 2014. Southwest posted 47 profitable years in a row from 1973 through 2019, a record no rival has matched. It became the biggest domestic carrier in the United States. After a December 2022 meltdown and investor pressure, it announced assigned seating and the end of two free bags in 2025.