The Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (Southwest) started its operation in 1971 with only three airlines serving three Texas cities. With its modest beginning, it is now operating more than 2,800 flights per day and carrying over 64 million passengers a year to 50 different cities all over US. Southwest boasts of the best on-time record, best baggage handling, and a very few customer complaints in the airline industry and has won the industry's Triple Crown award for Best Airline five times in a row from 1992-96. The fifth largest airline company in US is the only airline that made profits every year since 1973, yet it maintains the lowest fares in an industry that can literally change overnight. During this period most airlines have struggled to achieve three or four years of consecutive profitability. In 2002, the total market value of Southwest was $9 bn, larger than that of all the other major airlines in US put together.

The remarkable performance of Southwest is because of its ability to build and sustain relationships characterized by shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect among employees. The internal culture of Southwest has been like a family joining together to provide the best customer service and support possible. By respecting the employee first, it has found the key to success in airline industry. Southwest believes that a happy worker is more productive and a better service provider. The most important issue on the employee front is the company's no layoff policy.

It has a reputation of being the wild and crazy guy of commercial aviation. Yet, in many ways it is the most conservative company in airline industry. It has always maintained a strong balance sheet, and paid as much attention to its financial fitness in good times as in bad. This discipline helps quickly when opportunities come its way. From 1990 to 1994, for instance, when the airline industry lost $12.5 bn, Southwest was able to buy more planes and enhance the capacity to compete in today's growing market. Southwest doesn't just lead by numbers.

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