Southwest Airlines Slashing Capacity Growth Shakes Up Their Fleet Plan

Subscription Required By Chris Sloan Sept. 30, 2024, © Leeham News: Southwest Airlines outlined significant moves in its quest to return to sustained profitability at its investor day on September 26 in Dallas. Widely reported revenue and financial… Read More

Elliott’s plan for Southwest: new governance, curbed costs, monetize passengers

Subscription Required By Judson Rollins June 13, 2024, © Leeham News: Elliott Investment Management announced an activist shareholder campaign against Southwest Airlines’ board and management earlier this week. The airline’s share price has declined 50 percent in three… Read More

Elliott takes 11% share in Southwest, demands leadership overhaul

By Judson Rollins June 10, 2024, © Leeham News: Hedge fund Elliott Investment Management announced yesterday that it has a $1.9bn position in Southwest Airlines, comprising 11% of the company’s shares. It issued a letter to the airline’s… Read More

Southwest, the “legacy LCC,” part 2: Bloated labor expense, difficult fleet strategy result in uncompetitive cost structure

Subscription Required By Judson Rollins Introduction May 20, 2024, © Leeham News: Southwest Airlines was founded on the principles of high employee productivity and low labor costs. But 53 years after beginning operations, its labor cost as a… Read More

Southwest, the “legacy LCC,” part 1: Not keeping up with industry standards crimps unit revenue

Subscription Required By Judson Rollins Introduction  May 13, 2023, © Leeham News: Southwest Airlines, previously a longtime darling of investors and leisure passengers alike, struggles to find its footing now that the post-covid US domestic market is returning to… Read More

Southwest could solve its MAX 7 woes … by buying Breeze?

Subscription Required By Judson Rollins Introduction  May 6, 2024, © Leeham News: Southwest Airlines, still awaiting the certification and delivery of the Boeing 737 MAX 7 as a replacement for its aging 737-700s, might have an unorthodox alternative:… Read More

Ryanair, Southwest, United take biggest hit from FAA cap on 737 MAX production

By Scott Hamilton Feb. 16, 2024, © Leeham News: When the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) put a freeze on Boeing 737 production rates at the currently approved 38/mo level, LNA revealed that hundreds of orders will face delivery… Read More

Pontifications: History is repeating itself

Sept. 5, 2023, © Leeham News: Decades after US airline unions were on the decline, some are making big gains in restoring wages, benefits, and strength. Pilots at American, Delta, United, and Alaska airlines (among others) won big… Read More

Are the world’s regional airlines dying?

Subscription Required By Scott Hamilton June 17, 2023, © Leeham News: Is the regional airline market across the globe dying? Many think so. Certainly, the market demand for the regional jet is shrinking in the 10- and 20-year… Read More

HOTR: Airbus’ view on recovery from COVID; why Southwest stayed with MAX 7

By the Leeham News staff May 11, 2021, © Leeham News: Domestic traffic throughout the world is returning to 2019 levels, but at different rates, according to an Airbus analysis. Robert Lange, Head of Business Analysis and Market… Read More