After Elliott Management revealed a $1.9b stake in Southwest Airlines in June, an initial rally in the stock quickly fizzled. Rather than sparking typical cheer on Wall Street, Elliott’s campaign, spelled out in a 50-page presentation, led to confusion and concern among investors and customers. The hedge fund has taken activist stakes in more than 140 companies over the past three decades, according to data from 13D Monitor, but, like most activist investors, it has never targeted an airline. Southwest, a Dallas-based company that started flying in 1971, has a unique culture that’s survived profitably for decades in a bruising industry. While the company is suffering from margin deterioration and has seen its stock drop in each of the past four years, Elliott’s demand that Southwest fire CEO Bob Jordan and oust Chairman Gary Kelly has raised questions about whether the activist fully understands Southwest’s insular culture and the industry’s glacial pace of change. Elliott hasn’t publicly specified changes it wants within Southwest’s offerings, calling instead for a business review. “We are not entirely sure what Elliott has in mind,” analysts at Melius Research wrote in a report on June 10, the day the firm launched its campaign. “Until we know more, we are sticking with our Sell rating.”<br/>
unaligned
One week after it ended, WestJet continues to feel the effects of a mechanics strike that nearly shut down the airline's network for 29 hours. The two-day work stoppage that began on June 28 forced the airline to cancel more than 1,000 flights before the end of the Canada Day long weekend, one of the busiest travel windows of the year. The fallout continued well into last week, as WestJet called off 100 trips on Friday and Saturday as well as at least 31 more on Sunday, according to tracking service FlightAware. Figures from the airline suggest at least 170,000 passengers have been affected. The task of fully resuming flights by a nearly grounded fleet of 180 planes across more than 175 destinations is complex, costly and time-consuming. In an email, WestJet said it is working to revamp operations promptly. "We sincerely apologize to all guests affected by the strike," said spokeswoman Madison Kruger. "Our teams across WestJet are working diligently to support all impacted guests as quickly as possible." Nonetheless, travellers have registered their frustration in a torrent of messages and social media posts, saying the carrier's customer service remained almost unreachable for days. Many also cited rebooking problems. If an airline can't make new reservations within 48 hours, Canada's passenger rights charter requires it to book travellers on the next available flight from any carrier, including competitors, if they turn down the refund — a choice customers say WestJet failed to give them.<br/>
Aer Lingus has announced that a further 80 flights have been cancelled amid continuing industrial action by pilots over pay. The airline said the cancellations, between 11 July and 14 July, will allow it to "protect as many services as possible". In a statement, it said impacted passengers would be contacted by the airline regarding refund and rebooking options. The pilots, who are represented by the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (Ialpa), began staging their indefinite work-to-rule protest on 26 June. It means they are not working overtime or carrying out any other out-of-hours duties. On Wednesday Aer Lingus announced 76 flight cancellations between next Monday and Wednesday. The dispute has so far led to hundreds of flight cancellations and has disrupted the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers. On Saturday Aer Lingus pilots who are members of Ialpa took part in an eight-hour strike. Pilots initially demanded a 24% pay rise, arguing their pay has not kept up with high inflation levels since their last pay increase in 2019.<br/>