Case Study: Southwest Airlines Introduction History Southwest Airlines began service June 18, 1971 with flights to Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Southwest has grown to become the fourth largest U.S. airline (in terms of domestic Customers carried). 1998 marked Southwest's 26th consecutive year of profitability. Southwest became a major airline in 1989 when it exceeded the billion-dollar revenue mark. Southwest is the U.S. only major short-haul, low-fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier. Southwest was conceived in 1967, folklore says …showed first 75 words of 3900 total…

…showed last 75 words of 3900 total…th population of 2.4 million, is within an hours drive or train ride from Washington D.C. Airport is not congested and would allow room for future expansion as an East Coast base. 13 *The new flight routes can be priced below the competition due to the lower gate and landing fees at larger airports. *Go into a new market aggressively with 10 departures a day at first, and expand to 20 a day with acquisition of two gates. 14