• by Thom Forbes , January 4, 2019

Herb Kelleher, a New Jersey-born attorney who co-founded a regional airline in Texas that transformed the industry and spawned low-cost clones around the world, died yesterday at 87 of undisclosed causes. 

Southwest Airlines tweeted: “Herb has been quoted as saying, ‘It is my practice to try to understand how valuable something is by trying to imagine myself without it.’ We now have to imagine ourselves without Herb.” 

Ryanair, the budget European airline based in Dublin, simply said: “RIP and thank you, Herb Kelleher.”

As fondly as some folks recall air travel in the '50s and '60s, it was hardly an egalitarian experience.

“In the late 1960s, the nation’s airlines were a clique of venerable companies that offered onboard dining, movies and other amenities to make flying pleasant but pricey. Fares approved by federal regulators made air travel a luxury that few could afford,” writes the AP’s David Koenig.

“Mr. Kelleher was a lawyer in San Antonio in 1967 when a client, Rollin King, came to him with the idea for a low-fare airline that would fly between San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. Mr. Kelleher guided Southwest through a thicket of legal obstacles thrown up by other airlines, and the new carrier began flying in 1971.”

It did so not only with an eye on costs, but also with attitude -- a formula that has made its investors oodles of money.

“Kelleher's easy laugh and fierce competitiveness set the tone for the underdog Southwest as it grew from three planes serving three Texas cities in 1971. Today, Southwest is the country's largest domestic airline, with service to about 100 destinations, and a 45-year stretch of profitability unrivaled in the famously volatile industry,” writes Conor Shine for the DallasNews.

“He dressed up as Elvis Presley, performed rap songs on training tapes and starred in self-deprecating TV commercials in which he missed his plane, tried to use an expired credit card and claimed credit for the company's success to employees’ eye rolls. A chainsmoker with a penchant for Wild Turkey bourbon, he also joined employees in passing out peanuts or loading bags on flights.”

But he was, foremost, a savvy businessman.

“We've had years when earnings were down, but we've never had a loss for a full year since 1972,” he told Guy Raz on NPR's “How I Built This” podcast in 2017, as CNBC’s Kathleen Elkins reports. “And we've never furloughed an employee at Southwest Airlines, when the rest of the industry during that period up until now has probably furloughed a million and a half employees throughout the world.”

Southwest currently has about 58,000 employees.

“His vision for the airline … centered on using more fuel-efficient, low-cost planes to reduce fares and challenging his employees to provide no-frills service without lowering standards,” Glenn Rifkin writes for the New York Times.

“Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst and former executive, said that by eliminating onerous fees and unnecessary services and using secondary airports, like Love Field in Dallas, Southwest brought low prices to the market and stimulated demand for air travel. Now, given a choice between driving and flying, legions of travelers opted for the plane,” Rifkin adds.

He was also “the brand’s storyteller in chief,” as a headline on Forbes.com tells us. Carmine Gallo writes: “Kelleher once said leaders from other companies would visit Southwest headquarters in Dallas to learn its secrets. He took a special joy in their reaction when he revealed how simple it was. ‘They were interested in how we hired, trained, that sort of thing,’ Kelleher said. ‘Then we’d say, “Treat your people well and they’ll treat you well,” and then they’d go home disappointed. It was too simple.'” 

Gallo continues: “Culture matters at Southwest Airlines and it started with ‘Herb.’ Competitors can buy tangible assets, but they can’t buy culture, he often said. Kelleher’s culture code started with ‘an audacious commitment’ to put employees first, customers second, and shareholders third.”

You won’t find too many people who think air travel has gotten better over recent years, but “almost everything that is ‘positive’ about the modern air-travel experience, is positive thanks to Southwest Airlines,” writes James Fallows for The Atlantic. “Upbeat staff and crew attitude, straightforward rather than hyper-opaque pricing, even the more-or-less egalitarian boarding process -- these are all associated with Southwest.” 

Indeed, “anyone in the world who has set foot on an airplane in the past 50 years has been touched by the life of Herb Kelleher,” according to Linda Rutherford’s obit posted on Southwest Airlines’ blog. “We miss you already, Herbie,” she concludes.