Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines, died on January 3, 2019. Kelleher is regarded as the father of the low-cost airline industry, pioneering the concept of cheap flights in a single-class cabin without reserved seats and a business model based around high aircraft utilisation and short turnaround times. Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary's words, "without Herb there would be no low-fares airlines anywhere" reflected widespread recognition across the industry of Kelleher's impact on the airline business. Kelleher established Southwest in 1967 to provide cheap flights between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio and over the decades it has grown to become one of the largest airlines by fleet size, with more than 700 Boeing 737s in service. Mark Broadbent The first Lufthansa's Airbus A380 to be repainted in the German carrier's new livery returned to service recently. The jet, D-AIMD (msn 48), was repainted in the revised design in Guangzhou, China, before returning to its Munich base and resuming daily flights. By the end of 2019, a quarter of the airlines fleet will have been repainted into Lufthansa's revised livery, released last year to a mixed reaction. With more than 300 aircraft used by Lufthansa mainline and its partners, the repainting process for the entire fleet is not due for completion until 2025. Mark Broadbent
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