There was a Reddit post two days back from a SWA pilot that covers some of that - https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthwestAirlines/comments/zxg6op/the_history_of_swa_

There was a Reddit post two days back from a SWA pilot that covers some of that - https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthwestAirlines/comments/zxg6op/the_history_of_swa_destruction_from_within/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthwestAirlines/comments/zxg6op/t... The summary is that Herb Kelleher (CEO until 2004) was operations-focused, he was replaced by Gary Kelly who had a finance background and appointed as COO someone with a similar background. Kelly retired early 2022 and was replaced by Bob Jordan, getting back to an operations focused leader. Alas, the operational neglect of Kelly's tenure wasn't quickly overcome.