Southwest birthday bash: Firm marking 20 years in Las Vegas

Friday, Feb. 1, 2002 | 11:16 a.m.

When Bob Battista, an operations supervisor for Southwest Airlines in Las Vegas, joined the airline on its first day of service at McCarran International Airport in 1982, the company offered five flights a day.

Today there are 170.

On Thursday Southwest celebrated its 20th anniversary of the company's arrival in Las Vegas, serving cake and giving extra credits on the company's frequent flier program to passengers.

"Everybody made fun of us back then," Battista said. "They laughed at our uniforms, they laughed at our colors. We were different.

"Now, we're unique. Now, when you tell people you work for Southwest, they say, 'Can I have a job?' "

One of Battista's colleagues from Day 1, Michelle Dove, a customer service supervisor, wore the Southwest uniform of that era, a T-shirt and shorts.

"Las Vegas was looked at as the wild wild west back then," Dove said.

When Southwest began service to Phoenix, San Diego and Las Vegas on Jan. 31, 1982, it was a big step, since those were the company's first flights into states that didn't border Texas.

Battista, Dove and Bill Venckus, assistant station leader for ramps and operations, are the only three of Southwest's 751 Las Vegas employees who have worked continuously since the airline first arrived with a fleet of 24 Boeing 737 jets. Today the company has 371 of the twin-engine planes.

Southwest boarded 10.9 million passengers at McCarran in 2001, a 6.2 percent increase over the previous year. It's one of just five airlines that had an increase in Las Vegas passengers over 2000.

The airline is a key component to the tourism and gaming industry, since about 45 percent of the city's visitors arrive by air and Southwest brought in 30.9 percent of the passengers that arrived at McCarran last year.2"Everybody made fun of us back then. They laughed at our uniforms, they laughed at our colors. We were different."