founded as an intrastate airline serving Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. In 1971, the company made its first scheduled flight from its home airfield, Love Field in Dallas, Texas. In accordance with the Wright Amendment of 1979, Southwest's market was restricted to Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Passengers were not permitted to travel to any other destinations from Love Field. This was an effort by Congress to protect Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. In 1986, Kelleher introduced advance-purchase Fun Fares. He also introduced a new type of frequent flyer program a year later. Frequent flyer credits were based on number of flights taken, rather than mileage. Southwest first expanded to the East Coast in 1993, with service to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. In 1994, the company acquired Morris Air, a Salt Lake City, Utah based airline. That same year, Southwest launched several programs to cut costs. A ticketless system reduced travel agents' commissions, and Southwest began to use an in-house reservation system.By 1997, Southwest Airlines served cities in all parts of the continental United States. This same year, Southwest formed an alliance with Icelandair. This agreement enabled Southwest passengers to connect from several United States' cities to Europe through Icelandair's Baltimore hub. The company completed its first non-stop transcontinental flight in 1998, thus establishing Southwest as a formidable domestic competitor. Areas to be Benchmarked: "Southwest ranked number one in on-time performance for the last seven consecutive years according to [The Department of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report]" (Southwest Fact Sheet, 1999). This punctuality can be attributed the company's ticketless system and no-frills approach to air travel. The ticketless system reduces costs for both consumers and Southwest. Travel agents and ticket brokers are eliminated from the ticketing process. Thi...
