Southwest Airlines said Monday it made leadership changes across several departments in a bid to strengthen operations amid a recent technology meltdown that forced the carrier to cancel more than 16,700 flights. The Texas-based carrier promoted vice president of network planning, Adam Decaire, to senior vice president of network planning and network operations control, effective immediately.<br/>"This change creates a tighter feedback loop between schedule design and schedule execution while adding resiliency and reliability to the network," the carrier said. The move comes days after Southwest forecast a pretax hit of $725m to $825m to quarterly earnings after operational chaos during the holiday season caused mass cancellations, inviting scrutiny from the US government. During winter storm Elliott, Southwest's crew scheduling software failed to bear the load of staffing changes made by the airline and workers had to manually match crew and planes that led to huge waiting times for pilots and cabin crew. The carrier on Monday announced key leadership changes in departments including marketing & customer experience, culture & communications, legal-corporate & transactions and sales.<br/>
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New York State's comptroller has written to Southwest, asking the carrier to explain how it plans to prevent an operational collapse like the one at the end of last year which stranded thousands of passengers. The comptroller's office oversees the state's pension system, which held 1.35m shares of the Dallas-based company at the end of March 2022. In a letter to Southwest's CEO, Bob Jordan, on Friday New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the disruption to the airline's operation is of "considerable" concern to investors as its ability to attract customers and retain employees is of "paramount importance." "The management of these basic business operations are the heart of a company's ability to provide a return to shareholders," DiNapoli wrote in the letter on Friday. A severe winter storm right before Christmas coupled with Southwest's dated technology created havoc for thousands of the airline's passengers, causing over 16,000 flight cancellations between Dec. 22 and Dec. 31. Last week, Southwest warned that it would report a loss in the fourth quarter as the mass cancellations during the peak were estimated to result in a pretax quarterly earnings hit of $725m to $825m.<br/>
Global ratings agency S&P Global lowered Southwest Airlines Co's outlook to stable from positive, saying it expects the airline to generate weaker funds from operations (FFO) through 2023 amid the recent operational meltdown. "We now expect Southwest's FFO will not return to its pre-pandemic level of $3.5b until 2024," the agency said on Monday, adding that the Texas-based carrier faces a potentially weaker macroeconomic environment over the next 12-24 months. A severe winter storm right before Christmas, coupled with Southwest's outdated systems, caused havoc on the airline's operations, causing over 16,000 flight cancellations between Dec. 22 and Dec. 31. Lingering effects from the operational issues and a possible decline in travel demand due to inflation could limit Southwest's ability to raise its fares to cover higher costs, S&P said. Separately, Moody's Investor Service said Southwest's flight cancellations during the holiday season will cost it hundreds of millions of dollars but the resulting credit impact would be manageable owing to strong liquidity and continuing demand for air travel. Moody's, in a report dated Jan. 5, stated it expects ultimate costs related to refunds and compensations to passengers would be above $500m, but the company's $13b of cash on the balance sheet and $10b in debt can give the airline crucial cushioning to manage costs and invest in operational efficiencies. Moody's believes the impact on Southwest's passenger volumes and finances will barely be noticeable by this spring and beyond. Last week, Southwest forecast a pre-tax hit of $725m to $825m to quarterly earnings due to the cancellations.<br/>
Ratings agency Moody’s Investor Service said Southwest Airlines Co’s flight cancellations during the holiday season will cost it hundreds of millions of dollars but the resulting credit impact would be manageable owing to strong liquidity and continuing demand for air travel. A severe winter storm right before Christmas coupled with Southwest’s outdated systems caused havoc on the airline’s operations, causing over 16,000 flight cancellations between December 22 and December 31. The Moody’s report, dated January 5, stated it expects ultimate costs related to refunds and compensations to passengers would be above $500m, but the company’s $13b of cash on the balance sheet and $10b in debt can give the airline crucial cushioning to manage costs and invest in operational efficiencies. Moody’s believes the impact on Southwest’s passenger volumes and finances will barely be noticeable by this spring and beyond. The mass cancellations during the peak season for US airlines will result in a pre-tax hit of $725m to $825m to quarterly earnings, Southwest said on Friday, having earlier forecast a strong profit. The Texas-based carrier promised a thorough review of its operations after being criticized by unions and attracting scrutiny from the US government. The holiday travel meltdown has tarnished the carrier’s brand for now, but it will not permanently damage it due to the company’s competitive pricing and generally reliable service across a majority of its network, said Moody’s. <br/>
One of Russian budget carrier Pobeda’s Boeing 737-800s has suffered a runway excursion during departure from Perm. Video footage circulating on social media, purportedly taken during the incident, shows the aircraft – bearing registration RA-73294 – at a standstill on snowy ground, with passengers disembarking by stairs. The aircraft had arrived on a service from Moscow Sheremetyevo on 8 January, and was due to carry out the return flight. It appears to have attempted to take off from Perm’s runway 21 at around 07:20 but failed to maintain runway alignment at the beginning of the run. The Ural transport prosecutor’s office says the aircraft, operating flight DP6512, had powered up for take-off when its nose-gear veered off the runway onto the “adjoining part of the airfireld”. It says 183 passengers and six crew members were on board. Pobeda incident main-c-Ural transport prosecutor's office. Meteorological data from Perm at the time indicates light snow and temperatures below minus 30°C, and wind from the west. Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee has yet to give any further details of the incident. The aircraft was originally delivered to Aeroflot Group in 2014 under the Bermudan registration VQ-BTD, according to the Bermuda civil aviation authority. Russian regulators have controversially re-registered multiple aircraft retained by Russian carriers after sanctions were imposed over the Ukrainian conflict.<br/>