Southwest posts 1st quarterly loss in almost a decade

Southwest posted its first quarterly loss in nearly a decade and said Tuesday that the downturn in air travel that began in late February shows no signs of letting up. The airline said trip cancellations have pulled back from a peak in March but remain at levels that Southwest has never seen, as customers scrap plans to travel during the coronavirus pandemic. Southwest expects revenue to drop by 90% to 95% in April and May compared with a year ago, with only 5% to 10% of seats on its planes filled. With little revenue coming in, Southwest is burning through $900 million in cash a month. Bookings for April, May and June are weak, and they have been outnumbered by cancellations. Southwest hopes that as states ease their stay-at-home orders and some businesses and tourist destinations reopen, more people will want to fly — maybe by midsummer, the traditional vacation season. “We have decent bookings in place for July," CEO Gary Kelly said. “We just have no way to predict what cancellations will be.” Airlines for America said the average domestic flight in the past week had 17 passengers — although there have been incidents of crowded planes with many passengers not wearing face masks.<br/>