II li.ir"', Cose 2l Antonio The idea was suggested by Rollin King, a San ls "LUV" Getting Aggressive?" air service, entrepreneur who owned a small commuter issue. when his banker, John Parker, complained about the For years, Southwest Airlines flourished with orgarric 39 King then talked to Herb Kelleher-a New Jersey--born, growth, betting that its competitive labor costs, 1ow fares, graduate had New York University Law School who and unique corporate culture comprised the best arsenal practice They soon moved to San Antonio in 1967 to law. against rivals. Yet with the U.S. air travel market stagnant The pooled the seed money to start Southwest Airlines. consolidating into more dominant com- and larger airlines infant Southwest Airlines fought long-drawn-out 1SWA.1 petitors, has been forced to rethink its tradi- Southwest legal battles. primarily engineered by the major airlines. model in recent years. On Septemtrer 27, tional business four years before it got its first flight off the for over announced an agreement to acquire all 2010, Southwest ground rn 1971. Later on, the company had to work around shares of common stock of AirTran Holdings outstanding a regulation intended to penalize SWA's decision to oper- Inc., parent company of AirTran Airways (AirTran), the out of Dallas Love Field instead of moving to the new ate billion cash and Southwest Air- for a combination of $1.4 Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport. With Kelleher's bril- The acquisition, only the third in lines's common stock.l liant legal expertise and extensive lobbying of the House gave the discounter its first service in Southwest's history, issue was settled and SWA was of Representatives, the Lines fortress for decades, and more Atlanta, a Delta Air Love Field in 1979.The struggle allowed to operate out of Washington, D.C.2 Neverthe- flights from New York and initial years worked to the advantage for existence in the major departure from its traditional strat- less, it...
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