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Southwest Airlines

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Southwest Airlines
IATA ICAO Callsign
WN SWA SOUTHWEST
Founded1967
Operating basesAtlanta,

Baltimore, Chicago–Midway, Dallas–Love Field, Denver, Houston–Hobby, Las Vegas, Oakland, Orlando,

Phoenix–Sky Harbor
Fleet size675
HeadquartersDallas, TX
Websitehttps://www.southwest.com

Southwest Airlines is a airline based in Dallas, Texas that has a reputation for low fares. The airline started in 1971.[1] It flies mostly among about a hundred airports within the United States but also flies from the United States to airports in the Caribbean Sea and Mexico.

Originally, many of Southwest's flights were to airports in the Southwestern United States, such as Dallas Love Field and Houston Hobby Airport, but it also flies to airports in other parts of the country, such as Chicago Midway Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Airport. Southwest Airlines controls most of the gates at Dallas Love Field and most other airlines cannot fly from there.

In 2014, it started international flights.[2]

The company flies 815 Boeing 737 aircraft. This is more than any other airline.[3] It only flies the 737. By 2024, 230 were the newest kind, the Boeing 737 MAX.

Southwest Airlines bought the smaller AirTran Airways in 2010 and discontinued the AirTran name. For several years, Southwest was the largest airline in the United States based on number of passengers, but it was not the largest based on distance traveled.[4]

In 2018, an engine exploded on a Southwest Airlines flight, killing one passenger. That was the first death of a passenger from an aircraft accident on Southwest (earlier passenger deaths were from other causes, such as heart attack and drug overdoses).

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References

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  1. "40 Years in 40 Days: Class of 1971". www.southwestaircommunity.com. 18 June 2011.
  2. "Southwest announces first international flights". USA Today.
  3. "Southwest is the largest 737 operator in the world by Jiasong Zhu". PBase.
  4. Wallace, Gregory (8 December 2013). "American Airlines, US Airways to form largest air carrier Monday". CNNMoney.