Southwest Announces Layoffs
Southwest Airlines disclosed the first layoffs in its 53-year history with the carrier cutting about 1,750 corporate and leadership jobs, or roughly 15% of its non-union workforce. Southwest will save about $210 million this year with the cuts, and another $300 next year — but it will be hard to measure what this does to the morale and spirit for those left in the aftermath.
This is a move that appears to be pushed by activist investor Elliott which claimed nearly half the seats — five in all — on the carrier’s board last year in a settlement that kept CEO Bob Jordan in place — for now. Most of those losing their jobs will stop working immediately but remain on Southwest’s payroll through late April, with salaries, benefits, and bonuses still being paid until that time.
The layoffs come as Southwest braces itself to roll out assigned seating and an extra legroom offering at the front of the plane later this year, slowly transforming itself into something that its founder Herb Kelleher likely wouldn’t recognize today.
Endeavor Turns Passengers’ Journey Upside-Down
Delta Connection Flight 4819 operated by Delta’s wholly-owned subsidiary Endeavor Airlines flipped on its head Tuesday at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport as the CRJ-900 came in for its landing from Minneapolis/St Paul. All 80 people on board — 76 passengers and four crew — survived the incident with a small number of passengers being sent to the hospital for further evaluation.
The aircraft — N923XJ — was 16 years old, having been assembled in 2008. The weather in Toronto at the time of the incident was about what you’d expect in Canada during winter — cold, snowy, and windy. Winds were out of the west at about 32 mph, and the temperature was 16.5 degrees Fahrenheit. YYZ remained closed for several hours after the incident, eventually reopening around 5 p.m. The investigation of the incident will be handled by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
All 76 passengers were offered $30,000 from Delta in what it called a “no-strings attached” offer as compensation for the incident. In lieu of cash passengers were also offered a 60-second run through Delta’s Biscoff tunnel in Atlanta to grab as much as they can or a three-minute Zoom call with Delta executive Tom Brady.
Spirit Ready to Exit Bankruptcy
Several months after filing for bankruptcy protection late last year, Spirit Airlines secured court approval to exit the process via a lender-backed take-private deal. As part of the agreement, control of the carrier will go to a group that includes Citadel Advisors, Pacific Investment Management Co., Western Asset Management Co., and Gallons and Gallons of Yellow Paint Co.
The restructuring will allow the airline to cut about $795 million in debt — roughly equal to what it makes on one flight in seat assignment and checked bag fees. Existing shares of Spirit stock will be canceled, but the carrier will allow shareholders to use them as kindling — provided they pay a $9.95 fee.
Exit financing in the deal includes protection that restricts liability-management transactions that can favor some creditors over others.
Frontier Expands its Frontiers
Frontier Airlines announced 14 new routes to begin this spring, and they include the airline returning service to both Boise and Spokane in the Pacific Northwest. Both airports will dip their toe back in the Frontierverse with just 3x weekly service to Denver. Boise to Denver will begin May 15 and be followed by Spokane on May 20. Both markets will be promptly exited 3 or 4 days later, we assume.
Los Angeles and Washington/Dulles are the winners in this expansion, with LAX adding daily flights to both Chicago/ORD and Philadelphia beginning on May 22, while IAD adds daily flights to Dallas/Fort Worth and Miami plus 3x weekly flights to San Juan. Miami is adding two other destinations in addition to the IAD flights — 3x weekly service to Austin and 1x weekly to Aguadilla.
Other additions for Frontier include Austin to Philadelphia (3x weekly), Cleveland to Boston and Nashville (3x weekly on both), Dallas/Fort Worth to Norfolk (2x weekly), and Las Vegas to Tucson (3x weekly).
Etihad’s Record Profit
Etihad Airways established a new record for itself with a cool $476 million in profit in 2024 on $6.9 billion gross revenue, a 25% jump from 2023. Revenue growth came both in the form of passenger revenue and cargo. The carrier increased its ASKs (non-American speak for ASMs) by 28% while jumping passenger traffic by a third.
The banner year of revenue increases also saw a 4% drop in CASM — generally record revenues with reduced costs lead to a pretty decent profit.
The carrier used the momentum of last year to carry it into a strong January to start off 2025, flying 1.7 million passengers, an 11% jump from last year. Perhaps most important to its success, not one of those 1.7 million passengers flew to Newark on an Etihad plane, a key factor in keeping passengers coming back again in the future.
- Air Astana will begin 3x weekly flights from Atyrau to Tbilisi in May.
- Air Greenland plans to take delivery of its first A320neo by the end of next year. Please stay tuned to this space for updates on this ongoing story.
- Air India is beginning a one-way codeshare with Virgin Australia.
- Air New Zealand‘s fleet is not in a great spot.
- American is bringing back service between Chicago/ORD and Honolulu. Blocked at 4,243 miles, it’s the longest domestic flight AA flies, even when including its service between ORD and Champaign (CMI).
- Avianca — excuse us — avianca — plans to get into the Managua – Fort Lauderdale game.
- BA is acquiring Boeing’s old maintenance hangar at London/Gatwick.
- Breeze is blowing into Greensboro, NC with service to both Hartford and Orlando.
- Cathay Pacific had a good January.
- Humming Airways is humming along now.
- JetBlue is outsourcing the design of a new livery.
- Korean will begin 2x daily A330 flights between Seoul/ICN and Kobe, becoming the first Korean carrier to fly the route.
- Lufthansa fliers can now earn status points on ITA.
- Oman Air filled 88% of its seats in January.
- PLAY is going to mess around and wet-lease three aircraft out through the end of 2027.
- Qantas is delaying its A220-300 international launch from March to October.
- Samoa Airlines canceled all flights one day last week because 10% of its employees tested positive for drugs and booze. Seriously.
- SkyWest Charter was granted a commuter certificate from the DOT.
- Southwest joined IATA.
- SpiceJet is looking to pepper new widebodies into its fleet.
- SWISS is adding a caviar tasting menu in first class for flights departing Geneva and Zurich through March 4.
- t’way Air t’ook delivery of another B777.
- WestJet is filling the gaping hole in its route map that existed between Halifax and Amsterdam.
- Wizz Air got slapped around pretty good by the Austrian Supreme Court.
Most of my coworkers are out sick today. We had a staff infection.
