Rollin King on a Boeing demo flight from San Antonio during the early aircraft selection process on June 17, 1968.(Photo: Southwest Airlines)


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Rollin King, the Texas businessman who helped Herb Kelleher launch Southwest Airlines, died Friday at the age of 83. King's son Edward tells The Associated Press that Rollin died from the effects of a major stroke suffered about a year ago


Since news of King's death broke Friday afternoon, the story has been closely followed by aviation industry observers during the weekend.


"I am indeed profoundly saddened to learn of Rollin's passing," Kelleher, now chairman emeritus at Southwest, says in a statement quoted by The Dallas Morning News .


IN-DEPTH: Southwest Airlines co-founder Rollin King dies at 83 (The Dallas Morning News)

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"His idea to create a low cost-low fare, better-service-quality airline in Texas subsequently proved to be an empirical role model for not only the U.S. as a whole but, ultimately, for all of the world's inhabited continents," Kelleher says.


The events that led up to Southwest's founding, of course, have become an aviation industry legend.


Bloomberg News, one of the many outlets to remember King, recalls that legend, writing:



"King suggested the idea of an intrastate Texas airline to Kelleher, his attorney who would become Southwest's longtime chief executive officer. They famously drew the route plan for Southwest — a triangle connecting Dallas, Houston and San Antonio — on a cocktail napkin at a San Antonio bar in 1967."



King said in later interviews that such a napkin never existed, but that never stopped the story from becoming entrenched as airline lore, according to the Morning News.


Southwest eventually would launch in 1971, flying that "triangle" of routes within Texas as told in the napkin legend. And, by flying within Texas, Southwest was not bound by federal fare controls and certain other constraints in the then-regulated U.S. airline industry.


Against that backdrop, The New York Times notes "competitors like Texas International Airlines, Braniff International Airways and Continental Airlines waged a protracted legal battle before Southwest could make its first flight. By not flying across state borders, Southwest was able to get around prices set by the Civil Aeronautics Board."


Kelleher — the outspoken Wild Turkey-drinking co-founder who himself became an industry icon after helping King found Southwest — told the Morning News in 2008 the idea behind the carrier came from King's banker in San Antonio, who observed that Pacific Southwest Airlines had done well with a similar intrastate model in California.


The Morning News tells more of Southwest's history, writing "King and Kelleher hired airline veteran Lamar Muse to run the company in early 1971, and Muse was primarily responsible for putting together the early style and operations of Southwest Airlines."


Once it launched, Southwest helped stake a reputation for itself not only with low fares, but also by giving out free bottles of liquor to fliers who bought full-fare tickets. And then there were its female flight attendants, which the Times writes wore "orange shorts, known as 'hot pants,' with high white shoes."


The Dallas Business Journal writes King "resigned from the company in 1976, but remained on the board of directors and flew airplanes as a captain until 1978."


"The people of Southwest Airlines grieve with Rollin's family, mourn his absence, and thank him for his vision," Kelleher adds in his statement.


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