43 NO FRILLS BUT LOTS OF LAUGHS

In 1967 Texas businessman Rollin King and lawyer Herb Kelleher founded Air Southwest. It was an interstate airline linking Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. In 1971 the company changed its name to Southwest Airlines and made its first scheduled flight.

Its aims were relatively straightforward: low fares, high frequency flights and a dedication to its staff and customers. Its business model was unusual for the time – the airline concentrated on short-haul flights using less congested smaller airports and more direct routes. For example, in 1972 it moved all Houston flights to Hobby Airport from Houston International.

“After all, why should our customers have to drive 45 minutes to take a 40-minute flight?” asked Herb Kelleher at the time.

It used only of one type of aircraft which helped the company minimize training and maintenance costs.

It offered low-priced fares, with only a single class and no re-allocated seats.

At the time this was all pretty revolutionary but was to become the model for almost all the low-cost airlines around the world.

However, there was one further thing that differentiated Southwest Airlines and that was its own brand of “in-light entertainment”.

Attendants were encouraged to be themselves and have fun at work. A “typical” announcement might be: “This is a non-smoking flight. Federal law prohibits smoking on board and in the aircraft’s toilets … However, passengers wishing to smoke will be invited to our special lounge situated on the wing where they will be able to view their own in-flight movie – Gone with the Wind.”

The results were outstanding. Over the 70s and 80s the airline steadily built its operation adding more cities and gaining more passengers – passing 5 million in 1975, and flying 9.5 million customers in 1983, 13 million in 1986 to now handle over 60 million passengers a year. Nowadays it has 2,700 daily flights to more than 55 cities in 29 states.

Southwest Airlines sums up its approach as: “If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline”.

And the moral is that a little humour can go a long way. What are you doing that will put a smile on your customers’ faces?