Frontier Airlines

Southwest Airlines Co. has been profitable for 40 straight years.Unlike every other major carrier, it has never filed bankruptcy. It has never sacked employees with layoffs, furloughs or pay cuts. It is also the airline with the fewest complaints--just 0.25 per 100,000 passengers last year, according to the Department of Transportation.There are plenty of theories as to how Southwest succeeds where most other carriers fail. But Gary Kelly, who has been CEO since 2004, says it comes down to love."Love is part of the fabric at Southwest Airlines," he said. "Love Field is our headquarters in Dallas. LUV is our three-letter symbol on the New York Stock Exchange. It's a word that we're not embarrassed to use about how we feel about the company, our employees and our customers."I interviewed Mr. Kelly for nearly an hour and then heard him speak at the University of Denver last week. His formula is so basic, yet so seldom applied: Take care of employees, employees will take care of customers,...

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