The Struggle To Get Airborne
Unfortunately, there were immediate legal challenges. The day after the TAC voted, Braniff International Airways, Continental Airlines, and TTA (soon to be rebranded as Texas International Airlines) requested a restraining order to block the Texas Aeronautics Commission from issuing a certificate to Air Southwest. Claiming that the markets to be served were already fully covered, the three CAB-certificated carriers foresaw the possibility of cut-throat competition from an intrastate carrier that was not required to charge the same fares that they were obliged to collect.
The new company’s legal battles dragged on for the next three years. Courts and appellate courts upheld and overturned successive rulings as the standoff continued.
Meanwhile, Air Southwest was running through its investors’ money as court costs piled up. Fortunately, Herb Kelleher agreed to defer his legal fees until after the fight was won. It was a wise decision. Both Kelleher and his loyal secretary, Colleen Barrett, would go on to serve as future presidents of the airline that they were helping to create.
Before Herb and Colleen would occupy the executive office, the new company needed a true airline professional to oversee the start of operations. Kelleher, King, and their associates found that veteran in M. Lamar Muse, who had served with several carriers including TTA and Southern Airways.
Most notably, as President of Central Airlines from 1965 through 1967, Muse had instituted a program called Operation Turnabout that transformed that company from an underachiever among the nation’s local service carriers into a profitable airline enjoying extraordinary gains in revenue. His makeover of Central, which included new branding that encompassed everything from a striking aircraft livery to stylish new flight attendant uniforms, made the company an attractive target for acquisition. The original Frontier Airlines came calling and Central merged with that carrier in October 1967.
Mr. Muse Tweaks The Name That Became The Airline We Know
Along with finding new sources of capital, Muse’s first order of business at Air Southwest was to change the name of the company to Southwest Airlines. The name Air Southwest was too similar to Air West, a company recently created from the merger of three local service airlines (Air West itself was already undergoing rebranding to become Hughes Airwest).
The plan to operate Lockheed Electras was shelved and three factory-fresh Boeing 737-200s were acquired directly from Boeing at a discounted price because their intended buyers (PSA, Aloha, and Air California) had cancelled orders for the three ships due to the steep decline in airline profits during the 1970 recession.
Southwest Airlines Launches
After Texas International (TI) and Braniff tried once more – and failed – to gain an injunction, Southwest Airlines finally took to the skies on June 18, 1971, flying between Dallas-Love Field (DAL) and Houston’s new Intercontinental Airport (IAH), and between Love Field and San Antonio (SAT).
Borrowing a few ideas from California’s PSA, Southwest hired female flight attendants and attired them in uniforms that included hot pants. From the start, the concept was to make flying fun for passengers and to charge fares that were significantly lower than those of the competition.
On November 14, 1971, Southwest moved half of its Houston flights to close-in Hobby Airport (HOU), the old facility that all of Houston’s airlines had vacated when the new Intercontinental Airport opened for business in 1969. The convenience of flying out of close-in Hobby accounted for an uptick in Southwest’s passenger loads. Still, the airline lost money in its first year of operation (1971) and again in 1972.
Southwest acquired a fourth 737 to supplement the original three on scheduled services and to operate charter flights, but the aircraft had to be sold after a federal court ruled that intrastate Southwest Airlines could not operate interstate charters.
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