Encore: Southwest vs American Airlines | The Cult of Herb | 5
Business Wars
Wondery
4.6 • 13.2K Ratings
🗓️ 7 July 2021
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Everyone loves Herb Kelleher—even FAA regulators. The onetime corporate counsel-turned-CEO is coming into his own at the helm of Southwest. But his latest challenge is coming up with a way to skirt the FAA’s pesky “slot” system, designed to limit air traffic by rationing takeoffs and landings. Kelleher has a business to run. So he embarks on a crazy plan to snag a few extra slots for Southwest. It may not work, but one thing’s certain: it will be a whole lot of fun.
Listen to new episodes 1 week early and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/businesswars.
Support us by supporting our sponsors!
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Business Wars Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. |
| 0:13.0 | A listener note, this episode originally aired in 2018. |
| 0:18.0 | It's the morning of June 11, 1981. |
| 0:22.0 | 16 polished aluminum red, white and blue jets, shimmer in the Texas sun, as they fly in a line above Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. |
| 0:35.0 | The squadron descends one by one. |
| 0:38.0 | American 5747 maintain 17 zero knots. |
| 0:42.0 | Maintaining 17 zero knots, American 57 47. |
| 0:45.0 | 3989 86 runway 18 left clear left clear to land American 59 8618 left the morning. |
| 0:55.0 | This is an unprecedented invasion. |
| 0:58.0 | No airline has ever sent this many planes from this many different locations to one airport in such quick succession. |
| 1:05.0 | Attention in the concourse, all passengers traveling on American flight 12 to New York, La Guarde, your flight is ready for boarding at Gate 2. |
| 1:15.0 | Passengers will get off the planes and be back in the air in just a couple of hours, headed for new destinations. |
| 1:22.0 | The future of American Airlines has just arrived in Dallas. |
| 1:27.0 | It's a future some at American didn't believe could happen. |
| 1:30.0 | Just four months ago, when company president Bob Crandell's executive team told Americans ground crews they would bring the fleet in and send it back up multiple times a day. |
| 1:42.0 | A revolt nearly broke out. |
| 1:45.0 | It's a big shift. |
| 1:47.0 | Airlines normally scoop up passengers from small markets and much like a commuter train make multiple stops for passengers to get on and off as the plane makes its way across the country. |
| 1:56.0 | Crandell is keen on the hub and spoke model. |
| 2:00.0 | He and his team believe it's more cost effective to bring passengers from smaller markets to a hub where passengers can be consolidated into fuller flights headed for other markets. |
| 2:12.0 | Delta does that in Atlanta. |
| 2:14.0 | American wants that in Dallas but with a much tighter turnaround window. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.