A Dream on a Cocktail Napkin: The Birth of Southwest Airlines

Southwest Calls Love Field Home

Back in 1970, when TI and Braniff were keeping Air Southwest from getting airborne via their legal harassment, all of the airlines serving Love Field—including TI and Braniff—had signed an agreement to move to the new Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport (DFW), being built mid-way between the two cities and scheduled to open a few years later.

Once Southwest was up and flying, the intrastate carrier announced that it had no intention of abandoning Love Field. After all, the company had not signed on to the 1970 agreement to relocate because it was not an operating carrier at the time… thanks to Braniff and Texas International. Needless to say, both of those carriers were not happy with this announcement. Southwest’s passengers would have the advantage of flying out of a convenient airport 15 minutes from Downtown Dallas, instead of distant DFW.

An industry publication, World Airline Record, pointed out in a 1977 supplement that “(Southwest) was getting close to bankruptcy when it got its first big break – being able to stay at Dallas’ close-in Love Field when the CAB airlines had to move in January 1974 to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Regional Airport upon its completion… Southwest also benefited from its underdog role in which it was cast by the long controversy over, first, its certification and second, by all the publicity about its fight to stay on at Love Field.”

The Growth Of Southwest Airlines and Love Field

‘Love’ had been a part of Southwest’s advertising from day one with the original slogan “The somebody else up there who loves you”. The Love Field controversy only served to further promote the airline’s love image, which included calling drinks Love Potions and snacks Love Bites. Over the decades, the catchword has morphed to Luv, but the message is the same.

After passage of the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978 – which began the dismantling of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) – Southwest finally got the opportunity to expand beyond its role of an intrastate carrier and began its growth toward becoming the giant of an airline that it is today.

The first destination beyond the Texas border was New Orleans, with non-stop service initiated from Houston-Hobby in March 1979.

The airline also wanted to fly non-stop from Dallas-Love Field to New Orleans, but the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Jim Wright, who happened to be from Ft. Worth, considered it his duty to protect airline service at Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport. His bill, known as the Wright Amendment, prohibited any commercial interstate operations from Love Field other than to cities in the four states bordering Texas. The law allowed Southwest to inaugurate service between Dallas and New Orleans in neighboring Louisiana, but it stifled the airline’s route growth from its hometown airport.

Over the years, minor adjustments were made to the Wright Amendment until it was repealed in 2006, phasing out entirely in October 2014. Southwest was finally allowed to fly to destinations nationwide from Love Field.

The intrastate airline that had fought so hard just to get off the ground would outlive its rivals Braniff, Texas International, and Continental. It would grow – and keep on growing – during subsequent decades until it ranked as number three among U.S. carriers in number of passengers carried each year from 2015 through 2021.