How much will fares go up during the next 12 months?

The latest figures I saw, through April or May 2008, was that average fares had gone up 4.8 percent already this year. And with reductions in capacity, I wouldn’t be surprised if average fares went up by another 5 or 6 percent this year. I’m not talking about Southwest, by the way, just the legacy carriers.

The F.A.A. has been under a lot of pressure lately. What’s your view of the agency?

The F.A.A. has a splendid record. There’s no question about that. Commercial airline travel has never been safer, and it’s grown steadily safer over the past four or five years, so the end result has been superb, absolutely superb. I think reform of the air-traffic-control system is the major issue facing the F.A.A. as a whole. It’s an antiquated system, and a lot of the difficulties that we were talking about earlier for the airlines would go away if you had a modernized system that was more efficient. I’m hopeful that we’ll make steady progress toward the adoption of next-gen, as they call it—an air-traffic-control system that will be G.P.S.-oriented.

What has prevented that from hap­pening so far?

You’re stepping on a sore toe right now, because I became an apostle of that in 1993, and here we are 15 years later and we haven’t made a lot of progress. Backpackers are using G.P.S. to find out where they are in the woods. Truckers are using G.P.S. to find out which routes they should take to their destinations. Buses are using it. Private aircraft are using it. Let me see, who are the only ones who don’t have G.P.S.? Commercial airlines. Isn’t that astounding? You have to be a visionary and say, “We don’t need this today, but we’re going to need it very badly 10 or 15 years from now.”

Airlines need it, but the government has to take the steps to set it up.

If you stop to think about it, we’re really a little slice of salami in a governmental sandwich. The F.A.A. tells us what we can do with the airplane, right? You can’t push back from the gate, can’t taxi, can’t take off without the F.A.A. telling you. Our passengers on the ground are processed by the Transportation ­Security Administration. And guess who owns the airports. Governmental bodies. That’s why we have so little control over our destiny. Don’t misunderstand me—all of those things are needed. But it would be interesting if you said that all department stores are now going to have X-ray machines. You’re going to have to take your shoes off, your coat off, before you get into Macy’s. That might cut back on their patronage just a little bit.

Is there a particular day or incident from Southwest’s history that you remember most fondly?

For sheer drama, I would have to say that after litigating for four years in 31 different courts and administrative agencies, the arrival of our first airplane was a pretty dramatic event. I burst into tears when I kissed it on the nose and then went around and stuck my head in the engine, at which point a mechanic grabbed me and said that if the thrust reverser went off, it would decapitate me. I said, “You know? I really don’t give a damn.”

What’s the worst investment you ever made?

Gee, there are so many, it’s hard to pick out one. Enron, I guess. I must say, I didn’t pick Enron. It was a money manager.

So choose one: the cigarettes or the Wild Turkey.

Ha! It would be the cigarettes, and I’ll tell you why: I stop drinking Wild Turkey for a month every year in February, but I could never stop smoking for a month. I’m an addict. I acknowledge it.

Why February?

I was afraid you were gonna ask that. It’s the shortest month. [Laughter] About 20 years ago, a doctor told me, “As much as you drink on a regular basis, I think it’d be great for your liver if you took a month off.” So I said okay—February. I hate leap years! Despise them.