Herbert D Kelleher: Southwest pioneer who bestowed the world with affordable, safe air travel

The Man Who Pays His Way: at a time when some want to build barriers, Herb Kelleher’s vision of widened horizons is more precious than ever

“How important’s Herb Kelleher? Herb Kelleher’s like God.”

You may not have heard of Herbert D Kelleher, the co-founder and long-term leader of Southwest Airlines, who died on Thursday 3 January at the age of 87.

But Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, regards him as a deity and calls him: “The original genius, the Thomas Edison of low-fare air travel, the one who revolutionised the industry.”

Trust me: if you have taken a short-haul flight in the past couple of decades, this chain-smoking, whiskey-drinking lawyer has improved your travelling life.

Even by Texan standards, Herb Kelleher was a maverick. He was hired in 1966 in a bar in San Antonio, Texas, by a local businessman, Rollin King. Their aim: to start a low-fare, efficient airline.

It took five years of courtroom battles against vested interests running high-fare, inefficient airlines. At one stage Braniff, Continental and Trans-Texas Airlines even managed to get a restraining order to prevent the Texas Aeronautics Commission issuing Southwest with a certificate to fly. Their argument: that there was no need for a new airline.

Oh yes, there was.

About $1m (£790,000) in legal fees later, Southwest finally took off. Even then the Boeing 737s were allowed only to shuttle passengers between Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

As a “Texan domestic” carrier, Southwest found others trying to put it out of business. In a fares war against Braniff in January 1973, Southwest cut its tickets to a flat $13 on every flight – though with the option for business travellers of paying twice as much and getting a free bottle of liquor for their personal consumption.

Initially Southwest was not exactly politically correct, with a uniform of tight tops, hot pants and white leather boots (for female flight attendants, not male pilots).

Yet while its Texan rivals no longer exist, Southwest has grown to become the most successful airline in the world. The Dallas-based carrier is outstandingly profitable and safe, and exudes qualities often lacking elsewhere in the transport industry: humanity and humour.

Southwest’s staff love Herb, and their passengers love Southwest.

In the safety briefing for a Southwest flight I took from New Orleans to Las Vegas, after the instruction to “place the life jacket over your head”, passengers were advised “fix your hair ... and if you’re travelling with young children, or anyone too cool to watch a safety demonstration, fit your own mask before helping them”.

After the crew on flight 1892 learned that a couple onboard were off to get married, they announced: “We’ve made them some hats in the galley.” The headgear was fashioned from bags of peanuts held in place by red plastic cocktail sticks, and the couple were told on arrival: “You have to wear them at least as far as baggage reclaim.”

Unlike, say, the purveyors of sugary soft drinks, Kelleher was happy to share his business secrets, welcoming a procession of young entrepreneurs keen to replicate his recipe around the world.

“As far as low-cost travel is concerned, he was definitely the pioneer,’ said Sir Richard Branson.

“Southwest is really my role model,” echoed Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of easyJet.

Herb Kelleher, like those aviation knights, knew the value of free publicity; he once settled a trade-mark dispute with an arm-wrestling contest that was dressed up as a heavyweight fight. He lost the right to use the term “Plane Smart” (possibly because for most of the bout he had a cigarette in his mouth), but won the hearts of millions of prospective passengers.

Meanwhile Matthew Emson, a passenger flying with his family on Friday from Birmingham to Faro in Portugal, said: “I don’t think I’d be flying Ryanair so cheaply if he hadn’t been around.”

The maverick’s conviction that aviation should be affordable, safe and fun has extended the horizons of many millions of travellers: initially within Texas, then across America, and now around the world. At a time when some want to build barriers and constrain the freedom to travel, Herb Kelleher’s legacy is more precious than ever.