Originally published November 29 2005
Southwest Airlines to begin price war in Denver
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
With new flights to Denver, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly is gearing up for battles with Frontier and United.
Next time I visit Gary Kelly in the executive suite at Southwest Airlines headquarters, I won't bother wearing a suit.
This no-frills airline, which announced service to Denver this week, is a no-frills company as well.
By Dallas standards, the headquarters building adjacent to Love Field is quite unassuming, and the the 49-year-old CEO seems a good match.
No wonder he wasn't wearing a suit.
It just so happened that I'm in Dallas this week, on the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce Foundation's annual Leadership Exchange trip, along with 150 Colorado business and political leaders.
Judging from the half hour we spent, I'd guess Kelly will be well-received when he arrives in Denver on Thursday to announce the airline's routes, fares and departure gates.
"We'll begin with a modest number of flights and maybe 35-45 employees," he said.
"When we left Stapleton in 1986, it was a very congested airport," said Kelly, who's worked at Southwest for 19 years.
When DIA was built, it was very high-cost, which didn't work for us either.
"What's happened is that DIA got its costs down.
We didn't add any cities in 2002-2003.
"We have such a great route structure in the West, with Phoenix, Las Vegas, California and the Northwest.
Southwest is coming into a market that already is fiercely competitive, I said.
"We acknowledge the very fierce competition in Denver from two very fine airlines in Frontier and United," Kelly said "But we believe in our people and our low fares.
We look for markets that are underserved and overpriced.
"We know we need to come into Denver and prove that Southwest deserves to be a part of the community.
If we can bring lower fares to Denver, we'll generate more travel and the local economy will benefit."
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