Encore: Southwest vs American Airlines | Clearing the Runway | 1

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2021

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In Texas in the 1960s, Rollin King had a crazy idea. He wanted to create a no-frills airline service that served San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. All he and his lawyer had to do was convince the Federal Regulations Bureau that they had no jurisdiction on flights that never left Texas. Of course getting Southwest off the ground would have been a lot easier if they had any planes…

Please note, this episode originally aired in 2018.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars at free on Amazon music.
0:04.8	Download the app today.
0:13.3	The COVID-19 pandemic grounded air travelers around the world for over a year, robbing many
0:18.7	of us of the pleasures of packing a bag and getting away from it all.
0:22.8	But in this summer of vaccinations and the slow return to something resembling normalcy,
0:27.5	our minds can once again drift to wanderlust and new experiences.
0:31.8	That's why we thought it was the perfect time to revisit this season of business wars
0:36.0	all about the battle between two of the most popular airlines in the U.S., the scrappy
0:41.0	low-cost upstart Southwest and the corporate behemoth, American Airlines.
0:51.4	It is the spring of 1966 in St. Louis, San Antonio, Texas.
0:56.3	Two men with booming voices are talking business over whiskey at the bar of the St. Anthony
1:00.5	Hotel.
1:01.5	35-year-old Rollin King pushes his glass forward.
1:05.9	11-other scotch, rocks.
1:09.0	King runs an investment company and he's drinking with herb Kellerher, whose law firm
1:12.9	represents King's business interests.
1:15.9	Kellerher taps his glass.
1:17.5	Another wild turkey rocks from me, please.
1:20.2	Both men are tall and athletic and transplants to Texas.
1:24.2	King gets to the point.
1:25.5	We're going to talk to you about this airline idea we discuss the other day.
1:29.0	Come on, Bill.
	...

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