Southwest posts a quarterly profit as it tries to shake off Omicron woes.
Southwest on Thursday reported a $68m profit for the final three months of last year as it struggled to shake off setbacks caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which has delayed the travel recovery and is expected to drag the airline to a loss in the first three months of this year. Now, with cases falling, “the worst appears to be behind us,” said Bob Jordan, Southwest’s executive vice president, who will take over as CEnext week. The company had reported quarterly profits earlier last year, but the fourth quarter was the first in two years in which Southwest achieved a profit without the support of government aid. The airline received $2.7b in federal grants to help pay workers in 2021, helping to lift it to a full-year profit of $977m. Despite the quarterly profit, Omicron dealt Southwest and its peers a blow at the end of last year and into this one, as high rates of workers calling in sick, coupled with bad weather, forced carriers to cancel tens of thousands of flights over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Southwest was particularly hard hit, canceling thousands of flights, or about 9 percent of scheduled trips, in the two weeks starting Dec. 25. Only one other US carrier issued more cancellations: SkyWest Airlines, which operates regional flights for several other carriers. The problems continued this month. Southwest said it has canceled more than 5,600 flights in January, taking a $50m toll on operating revenue for the month. Omicron also weighed on ticket sales and led to an increase in customer cancellations. The airline now expects to report a loss for the first three months of 2022.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2022-01-28/unaligned/southwest-posts-a-quarterly-profit-as-it-tries-to-shake-off-omicron-woes
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Southwest posts a quarterly profit as it tries to shake off Omicron woes.
Southwest on Thursday reported a $68m profit for the final three months of last year as it struggled to shake off setbacks caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which has delayed the travel recovery and is expected to drag the airline to a loss in the first three months of this year. Now, with cases falling, “the worst appears to be behind us,” said Bob Jordan, Southwest’s executive vice president, who will take over as CEnext week. The company had reported quarterly profits earlier last year, but the fourth quarter was the first in two years in which Southwest achieved a profit without the support of government aid. The airline received $2.7b in federal grants to help pay workers in 2021, helping to lift it to a full-year profit of $977m. Despite the quarterly profit, Omicron dealt Southwest and its peers a blow at the end of last year and into this one, as high rates of workers calling in sick, coupled with bad weather, forced carriers to cancel tens of thousands of flights over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Southwest was particularly hard hit, canceling thousands of flights, or about 9 percent of scheduled trips, in the two weeks starting Dec. 25. Only one other US carrier issued more cancellations: SkyWest Airlines, which operates regional flights for several other carriers. The problems continued this month. Southwest said it has canceled more than 5,600 flights in January, taking a $50m toll on operating revenue for the month. Omicron also weighed on ticket sales and led to an increase in customer cancellations. The airline now expects to report a loss for the first three months of 2022.<br/>
