Business & Science
Herb Kelleher
New Jersey-born Herb Kelleher became a Texas business icon by co-founding Southwest Airlines and building a low-fare, high-frequency carrier around a model first designed for travel among Texas cities.
- Roster rank
- #159
- Category
- Business & Science
- Subject type
- Person
- Profile source
- Published Texas Icons profile
Texas story
Life and career
Herbert David Kelleher was born in New Jersey in 1931, studied law and moved to San Antonio, where his legal practice led to the idea that became Southwest Airlines. He and businessman Rollin King developed a carrier built initially around travel among Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
Kelleher served as Southwest's longtime legal strategist, president, CEO and chairman. The company became a major influence on low-cost aviation through simple fleets, fast aircraft turns and a distinctive employee culture. His Texas identity is therefore adopted and institutional rather than natal.
Defining work
What to know
- Southwest Airlines co-founding
- Texas triangle route model
- low-cost airline strategy
- 2008 National Aviation Hall of Fame
Timeline
Key milestones
- 1931Born in New Jersey.
- 1960sPractices law in San Antonio and develops the Southwest Airlines concept with Rollin King.
- 1971Southwest begins scheduled service within Texas.
- 1981Kelleher becomes Southwest president and CEO.
- 2008Inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame and steps down as Southwest chairman.
- 2019Dies at age 87.
Texas connections
Places in the story
Legal career and origin of the Southwest Airlines concept.
Dallas
Southwest headquarters and Love Field operating base.
Houston
One of the carrier's original Texas markets.
Legacy
Why the story lasts
Kelleher helped turn a Texas intrastate carrier into a model studied across the global airline industry.
His management philosophy made employee culture and operational simplicity central pieces of Southwest's brand and economics.
Sources
Research trail
Cross-linked profiles