After three years of negotiating, Southwest Airlines and the Southwest Airlines Pilot’s Association have come to a tentative agreement on a new contract. The next step is for the contract to be voted on by the pilots. If passed, the contract will run until September 1st of 2011.
Gary Kelly, the President, CEO and Chairman of Southwest Airlines, is happy that the two sides could come to an agreement during these difficult economic times.
Said Kelly: “I applaud the negotiation teams and the SWAPA Board for recognizing the importance of this new tentative agreement. Although this new proposal was negotiated during a …read more

After Southwest Airlines made a $170 million bid for Frontier Airlines, many expected Southwest to win the bidding — especially considering that the next highest bid was $108.8 million by Republic Airways. On Thursday, however, Republic Airways was named as the winner in bankruptcy court. Southwest’s bid was reportedly nixed due to concerns of how the two companies would merge.
Republic Airways, on the other hand, won’t exactly have to merge. Instead, the company plans to run Frontier Airlines as a stand-alone subsidiary.
Gary Kelly, the CEO and President of Southwest Airlines, said that the end result shows that Frontier Airlines and …read more

If you are traveling on Southwest Airlines after June 17th, we have some good news for your pets. You will be able to take your small dog or cat on board the plane. However, you will need to pay a $75 “pet fair” each way.
Said Gary Kelly, the CEO of Southwest Airlines: “We know from Customer and Employee feedback that our new ‘pet’ Customers will be a welcomed addition to any flight. Our enhanced boarding process has opened the window, allowing us to accommodate small pets comfortably on a Southwest flight – without impacting our efficiency.”
For the pets to be …read more

Virtually every airline in the United States is in financial trouble. Seemingly, if they aren’t asking for bailouts from the federal government, the airlines are on the brink of bankruptcy. The one airline company that has been the shining beacon of hope in recent years has been Southwest Airlines. However, that didn’t stop Southwest’s CEO from seeing an estimated 18% drop in pay in 2008.
Gary Kelly was paid approximately $1.5 million in 2008. About 40% of that money came in the form of stock options, while his actual salary and bonus combined for about $900,000.
In 2008, Southwest Airlines had arguably …read more