In this Oct. 3, 2018 file photo, Gary Kelly, Chairman and CEO, Southwest Airlines Co., speaks in Detroit. Southwest said Wednesday, June 23, 2021, that Kelly will step down next February and be succeeded by Robert Jordan, the airline's executive vice president of corporate services.

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly will step down in February after a long run in which he steered the airline through periods of growth, recessions and now a pandemic.

Kelly, who has been CEO since July 2004, will be succeeded by Robert Jordan, the airline’s executive vice president of corporate services. Southwest said Wednesday that Kelly, 66, plans to remain executive chairman at least through 2026.

Change at the top comes as Southwest and other airlines are starting to recover from the pandemic. Southwest, which carries more domestic passengers than any other airline, is geared to vacationers flying within the U.S. or to nearby countries, and it has navigated the downturn better than most. Thanks to federal pandemic relief, it turned a small profit in the first quarter of this year, and it has added many new leisure-travel destinations.

The new CEO will take over an airline with a history of technology outages that have aggravated customers.