icao iata company callsign country
SWA WN Southwest Airlines Southwest USA United States

note

The original low-cost, low fare airline. Airline was founded by a pilot and Harvard business school graduate Rollin King and his attorney Herbert Kelleher in March 1967. Rollin King previously founded Wild Goose Flying Service which focused on smaller markets in Texas and was at the time being liquidated with the help of Herb Kelleher. Founders envisioned low fare one class high frequency service between Texas 3 largest cities San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. Company incorporated in March 1967 as Air Southwest. In March 1971 the name was changed to Southwest Airlines and operations commenced in June 1971 using 3 Boeing 737-200 aircraft. To this date Southwest is loyal Boeing 737 customer. PSA of California provided much of inspiration, including name and livery. Airline initially operated only in state of Texas providing high frequency service between its base at Dallas Love field and San Antonio, Houston, Lubbock, El Paso and Austin. Two years later 1 millionth passenger is carried and SWA made its first profit. In 1977 SWA went public. After the airline deregulation of 1978, Southwest expanded into neighboring states, Arizona and California starting with New Orleans in 1979. In December 1984 first Boeing 737-300 series joined its fleet. In 1989 Southwest becomes "Major Airline" - federal designation for carrier that records 1 billion dollars in revenue. In 1990 first 737-500 joined the fleet. One year later its fleet included 124 aircraft and SWA employed just under 10,000 people. In 1995 ticketless boarding is introduced. In December 1997 SWA took delivery of first Boeing 737-700 as a type launch customer . By 1999, SWA fleet grew to 300 aircraft. Southwest Airlines has been phenomenally profitable over the years. Its first quarterly loss since 1973 was recorded in 4th quarter 2008. In 2014 Southwest entered international markets. In 2019 Southwest received ETOPS authority allowing it to expand into the Hawaii market. Southwest added 21 new cities during the Covid pandemic when other airlines were contracting. Southwest serves 121 destinations in Continental US, Hawaii, Mexico, Caribbean, Puerto Rico and Central America. Southwest employs over 60,000 employees (2022) and operates approximately 4300 daily flights (2023).

current /stored fleet (807)

Boeing 737-700 330
Boeing 737 MAX 8 274
Boeing 737-800 203

on order (34)

Boeing 737 MAX 7 32
Boeing 737 MAX 8 2

historic (476)

Boeing 737-300 195
Boeing 737-700 185
Boeing 737-200 60
Boeing 737-500 25
Boeing 727 7
Boeing 737-800 4

written off (3)

Boeing 737-300 3
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