Southwest Airlines to Trim Flights, Manpower

Southwest Airlines has announced that it will suspend flights to four airports across the United States. The airline has said that one of the reasons is the delay in the delivery of Boeing aircraft. Southwest has aid that it will receive only 20 of the 46 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes it was expecting this year. As part of the new plan, the airlines has also said that it is trimming its workforce and as many as 2,000 employees will also be fired.

The airline has reported a quarterly loss of $231 million, which woks out to 39 cents per share. Southwest has been working to reduce the losses but the delays in aircraft arrivals could mean slower growth. 

Southwest Airlines has said it will stop flying to the following 4 airports beginning August 4:

The following are the airports Southwest will end service at on August 4:

• George Bush International Airport in Houston
• Bellingham International Airport in Bellingham, Washington
• Syracuse Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, New York
• Cozumel International Airport on Cozumel island, Mexico

Southwest Airlines CEO Bobd Jordan said that "Achieving our financial goals is an immediate imperative. The recent news from Boeing regarding further aircraft delivery delays presents significant challenges for both 2024 and 2025. We are reacting and replanning quickly to mitigate the operational and financial impacts while maintaining dependable and reliable flight schedules for our customers,"

Jordan was addressing a first quarter earnings call and said that besides ending service at these airports, they “are evaluating options to enhance our customer experience as we study product preferences and expectations, including onboard seating and our cabin. And, we are implementing cost control initiatives, including limiting hiring and offering voluntary time off programs. We now expect to end 2024 with approximately 2,000 fewer Employees as compared with the end of 2023.”

Airlines globally cut routes thst are not profitable so that the aircradft can be used in high profit routes.