Southwest 2018 profit down 27%; US shutdown may delay Hawaii service
Executives from Southwest Airlines announced the carrier’s planned expansion into Hawaii will likely be delayed for months, a result of the ongoing US partial govt shutdown, which has furloughed the FAA workers needed to certify the new routes. Southwest COO Michael Van de Van said that the airline had a “reasonable chance” of beginning service in Q1 2019 if the govt shutdown were to end within a week. Barring that, he said the service would likely begin in the Q2. CE Gary Kelly added the FAA has already approved the program, and all the carrier has to do now is “to demonstrate to them that we can execute our program.” The carrier recorded a year-end profit for fiscal 2018 of US$2.5b, down 27% from its record 2017 profit of $3.4b, which benefited from the effects of federal tax reform legislation enacted that year. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/imagelibrary/news/hot-topics/2019-01-28/unaligned/southwest-2018-profit-down-27-us-shutdown-may-delay-hawaii-service
https://portal.staralliance.com/imagelibrary/logo.png
Southwest 2018 profit down 27%; US shutdown may delay Hawaii service
Executives from Southwest Airlines announced the carrier’s planned expansion into Hawaii will likely be delayed for months, a result of the ongoing US partial govt shutdown, which has furloughed the FAA workers needed to certify the new routes. Southwest COO Michael Van de Van said that the airline had a “reasonable chance” of beginning service in Q1 2019 if the govt shutdown were to end within a week. Barring that, he said the service would likely begin in the Q2. CE Gary Kelly added the FAA has already approved the program, and all the carrier has to do now is “to demonstrate to them that we can execute our program.” The carrier recorded a year-end profit for fiscal 2018 of US$2.5b, down 27% from its record 2017 profit of $3.4b, which benefited from the effects of federal tax reform legislation enacted that year. <br/>
