SOUTHWEST AIR (PTY.), LTD.: P. O. Box 71, Mendi, SHP, Papua New Guinea; Phone 675 591031; Fax 675 591358; Code W2; Year Founded 1995. SWA is set up at Mendi in 1995 to operate scheduled passenger and cargo services to local domestic destinations. Managing Director J. Sauverian begins revenue operations with 1 each de Havil-land Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter and Embraer EMB-110P1 Ban-deirante, plus 3 Pilatus-Britten-Norman PBN-2A Islanders.
Flights continue during the remainder of the decade.
SOUTHWEST AIR FAST EXPRESS (SAFEWAY): United States (1929-1931). With assistance from Maddux Air Lines commodore Lawrence G. Fritz, Earle P. Halliburton establishes SAFEWAY at Tulsa, Oklahoma, in early 1929 to offer scheduled, multistop passenger flights out of the oil fields to a variety of destinations. Beginning on February 14, a number of Ford Tri-Motors will be delivered for this service, including 5-AT-13 (February 14) and 5-AT-28 and 5-AT-29 (March 19).
These three aircraft are employed on April 2 to inaugurate scheduled revenue flights over routes from Tulsa to Fort Worth, Dallas, Wichita Falls, and Sweetwater via Oklahoma City and Tulsa to Springfield, St. Louis, Coffeeville, and Kansas City. Three more Fords arrive before the end of spring: 5-AT-39 on April 13, 5-AT-43 on May 8, 5-AT-44 on May 14.
During the summer, Halliburton participates with Jack Frye’s Standard Airlines in the operation of an air-rail service. Passengers arriving at St. Louis from New York via the New York Central Railroad transfer to the Ford Tri-Motors, which fly on to Sweetwater, Texas. There the overnight trip continues, courtesy of the Texas & Pacific Railway, to El Paso, where Fry’s company completes the third transcontinental service begun during the year.
On November 21, Halliburton applies to the U. S. Post Office for a new airmail contract. SAFEWAY is not one of those companies within the airway system desired by Postmaster General Walter F. Brown— Halliburton is thought a nuisance and his requests are put off.
The Ford 5-AT-64 is purchased on May 16, 1930, from Parks Air College in St. Louis, where it has been the only trimotored aircraft in America employed exclusively for student instruction. The final Tri-Motor, 5-AT-67, is received from Ford Motor Company on May 23.
Although Gen. Brown’s contract award process will later be investigated, the Post Office is spared further difficulty from Oklahoma at this point when American Airways buys SAFEWAY out (for $1.4 million) in September. The carrier is renamed Southern Air Fast Express on October 11 and Halliburton’s planes and personnel are transferred to it.
SOUTHWEST AIR LINES COMPANY, LTD. (SWAL): Japan (1967-1993). Southwest Air Lines Company, Ltd. (Nansei Koku K. K.) is formed by Japan Air Lines Company, Ltd. at Naha, Okinawa on June 22, 1967. It is to replace the scheduled and charter services previously flown in the Nansei (Southwest) Islands by the U. S. CIA proprietary airline Air America, which is now too heavily engaged in the Vietnam War to continue their provision. JAL holds 51% ownership; the remaining stockholders (49%) are Naha Air Terminal, Orion Beer, Ryubyuan Oil, and the Bank of Okinawa. Employing Douglas DC-3s, the new entrant begins revenue flight operations, under contract to the U. S. Civil Administration of Okinawa, on July 1.
During the next decade, services are established and maintained linking Naha with Miyakojima, Ishigakijima, Kumejima, Yunagunijima, Minamidaitojima, and Taramajima. When the Ryukyu Islands are returned to Japan by the U. S. in May 1973, Southwest is designated Japan’s fourth scheduled air carrier.
In 1978, President K. Oshiro’s 350-employee carrier owns 8 YS-11A-500s and 2 de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters. Orders are outstanding for a pair of Boeing 737-2Q3As. These, together with three others, are received over the next four years and by the middle 1980s, the company has also purchased two more Twin Otters, which replaced three YS-11A-500s. Orders are placed for three more Boeing 737-2Q3As.
New routes are opened during 1979-1981 to Agunijima, Hateruma, Kitadaitojima, and Okinoerabushima. Airline employment grows to 489 and traffic grows as the Boeings arrive.
A B-737-2Q3A, with 5 crew and 133 passengers, overruns the runway after landing at Ishigaki Jima on August 26, 1982, and catches fire; all aboard are safely evacuated before the aircraft is consumed by the flames.
Enplanements for the year total 1,308,651 and rise to 1,320,073 by 1983. The operating profit in 1983 is $3.4 million and a net gain of $2 million is generated.
The workforce is increased by 6.4% in 1984 to 500. Passenger boardings swell 4.6% to 1,378,000, while cargo jumps 18.3% to 3.21 million FTKs. Expenses do not overwhelm operating income and, as a result, the operating profit is $1.9 million and the net profit is $400,000, both figures being down from the previous 12 months.
K. Oshiro becomes chairman and service is now maintained by new President M. Ihara’s airline throughout the Ryukyu Islands. Representing continued growth, the fleet in 1988 comprises 6 B-737-2Q3As, 4 Twin Otters, and 6 Nihons.
Orders are placed for four B-737-4Q3s in 1989. Enplanements total 1,356,974. One YS-11-500A is withdrawn in 1990 as another B-737-2Q3A is added. Passenger boardings leap ahead by 8.5% to 1,463,031 and freight climbs 22% to 4.31 million FTKs.
In 1991, the fleet includes 7 leased B-737-2Q3As, 1 chartered B-737-205A, 4 DHC-6-300s, and 5 YS-11A-200s. Airline employment in 1992 is 500. Regional services continue to be offered from Naha City to Yoron, Kume, Miyako, Ishigaki, Shimoji, Aguni, Kitadairo, Mi-namidaito, and Tarama. They also link Miyako with Ishigaki, Yoron with Okinorerabu, Tarama with Miyako, Ishigaki with Tarama, Ishigaki with Yonaguni, and Hateruma with Isigaki. In 1993, the carrier is renamed Japan TransOcean Air, Ltd.
World History
