• Buy Your Ticket!
• What It Means
• About the National Immigration Forum

Southwest Airlines Co.

More than 38 years ago, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher got together and decided to start a different kind of airline. They began with one simple notion: if you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. That airline was Southwest – and it has just celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Today, Southwest Airlines operates 550 Boeing 737 aircrafts among 72 cities. It topped the monthly domestic originating passenger rankings for the first time in May 2003. Year-end results for 2010 marked the airline's 38th consecutive year of profitability. Southwest became a major airline in 1989 when it exceeded the billion-dollar revenue mark.

Southwest Airlines is the United States' most successful low fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier. It operates more than 3,400 flights a day coast-to-coast, making it the largest U.S. carrier based on domestic passengers carried as of December 31, 2010. On May 2, 2011, Southwest acquired Orlando-based AirTran Airways and expects to complete the integration of the two airlines over the next several years.

Since its first flight back in 1971, Southwest Airlines has been an industry leader in displaying outstanding corporate citizenship, demonstrated by its commitment to people, community, and the American Dream. Through its diverse partnerships and strong relationships with local and national organizations that serve the immigrant community, Southwest Airlines has made a positive impact in the lives of our country’s newest Americans.

The company has taken some of its most notable strides in championing the American Dream through its work conducting outreach in the nation’s Asian and Hispanic communities. Just last fall, the airline was listed as one of Hispanic Business magazine's Top 60 Companies for Diversity. This long-term dedication to the value of immigrant communities is what makes Southwest Airlines the National Immigration Forum's choice for this year's Golden Door Award.

In the most recent edition of its aptly named e-newsletter, Mosaic, Southwest talks about its work with MOSTE, a mentoring and college-access organization for underserved teenage girls in Los Angeles, CA. By providing these high school students with plane tickets to visit and tour East Coast college campuses, Southwest Airlines has given them “an extraordinary opportunity,” says More MOSTE program chair and La Opinion woman of distinction Cindy Lopez.

Read more about the company's corporate social responsibility practice and diversity initiatives here: http://www.southwest.com/html/southwest-difference/southwest-citizenship/index.html.