It’s the end of Southwest’s Kelly era, as CEO Gary Kelly gets set to pass the torch to Robert Jordan, the carrier’s current executive vice president of corporate services. Kelly, of course, took the mantle shortly after Southwest’s legendary founder, Herb Kelleher. Never as flamboyant as Kelleher (no one can imagine the taciturn Kelly challenging Doug Parker to a Wild Turkey-fueled arm-wrestling competition, for example), Kelly nonetheless guided the airline through a radical transformation, from scrappy discounter to one the country’s largest carriers by passenger volume. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing: Kelly and labor often clashed. But Kelly leaves…
