Southwest Airlines Co.

Southwest Airlines Co. operates Southwest Airlines, a major passenger airline providing scheduled air transportation in the United States and near-international markets. The company began service on June 18, 1971, with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. As of December 31, 2025, Southwest operated a fleet of 803 Boeing 737 aircraft. It served 117 destinations across 42 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and ten near-international countries: Mexico, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Aruba, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. In 2025, Southwest launched its first partnerships with international carriers to expand its network. In August 2025, Southwest introduced Getaways by Southwest, an in-house vacation product offering customizable packages. On January 27, 2026, Southwest began offering assigned and extra legroom seating, allowing passengers to choose standard, preferred, or extra legroom seats. Concurrently, it evolved its boarding process, prioritizing customers into groups based on seat location, fare bundle, and loyalty program status, starting with extra legroom seats in boarding groups 1 and 2.