Southwest Airlines Names Vice President of Maintenance & Engineering

Southwest Airlines announced today that Brian Hirshman has joined the Dallas-based airline as its new Vice President of Maintenance & Engineering.

Hirshman joins Southwest's Maintenance and Engineering Department after working in the airline maintenance industry for more than 20 years. He started his career as a frontline mechanic for Northwest Airlines in New York, and over the years has gained experience in all areas of maintenance. Recently, he held the positions of Director of Maintenance and Staff Vice President Maintenance at Alaska Airlines until 2004. Since then, he has worked in the consulting and investment banking arena providing professional services to airline operators and MRO organizations.

"We are pleased to have him join our Maintenance & Engineering Team because he is familiar with the various challenges faced by the airline industry and has the unique advantage of seeing how various operators all over the world have dealt with them," said Mike Van de Ven, Southwest's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "I am very excited about his vision for Maintenance and Engineering. He joins a team that maintains the largest, most reliable, all-Boeing fleet in the world. His experience will complement and work well with our current Leadership to guide our world-class Maintenance and Engineering Department."

Hirshman leads an experienced team of Southwest Leaders including Jim Sokol, Vice President Maintenance Operations; Dave Fischer, Senior Director of Planning & Engineering; and Peggy Hain, Senior Director Quality. For a photo of Hirshman, please use this link (http://gallery.swamedia.com/photos).

After nearly 39 years of service, Southwest Airlines continues to differentiate itself from other low-fare carriers - offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded, now serving 69 cities in 35 states. Southwest also is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet. To read more about how Southwest is doing its part to be a good citizen, visit southwest.com/cares to read the One Report. Southwest currently operates more than 3,100 flights a day and has nearly 35,000 Employees systemwide

www.southwest.com