The airline industry faces problems bigger than Southwest Airlines' (LUV) crumbling infrastructure.
Yes, it's bad when poor weather mixed with inadequate software causes your flight to be canceled, but it might be worse if you can't find a flight at all.
Most of the major airlines have internal staffing issues. Thousands of pilots retired during the covid pandemic and it's not easy to quickly replace them, given how long it takes to train one.
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That's an area where Southwest has actually been ahead of its peers. Chief Executive Bob Jordan addressed the pilot-staffing issue during his company's third-quarter-earnings call in October.
"We are on track to hire 1,200 pilots this year and 2,100 pilots next year as planned. We wanted to restore our operational reliability, and we are headed in the right direction, having made a lot of solid progress," Jordan shared.
And while Southwest still has to negotiate labor contracts with both its pilots and its flight attendants, it has been ahead of the industry curve when it comes to staffing.
That may be why the airline is the only major player not taking advantage of an offer from the Federal Aviation Administration to cut its flight schedule this summer.
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Expect Fewer Flights From Key Airports This Summer
When an airline takes a slot at an airport, it's committing to fly planes at that set time. Not doing so, when weather or another problem isn't causing a cancellation, requires permission from the Federal Aviation Administration.
This summer, due to a severe shortage of air-traffic controllers specifically in New York and Washington, the FAA has offered airlines the ability to voluntarily cut their schedules by 10%. That's a strong positive for airlines that are short-staffed because fewer flights mean more expensive tickets on the ones that remain.
If one airline cut its schedule by 10%, that would likely hurt that airline. In this case, JetBlue (JBLU), United Airlines (UAL), American Airlines (AAL), and Delta Airlines (DAL) have all informed the FAA of massive cuts to their schedules.
"As of April 3, American Airlines had removed 4,790 flights to or from JFK, LaGuardia and Reagan National, as well as Newark Liberty International Airport, from its May 1 to Sept. 30 schedule compared with what was filed on Feb. 3, 2023," according to data from Cirium.
United Airlines was close behind at 4,353 flights cut, while JetBlue so far had trimmed 3,565 flights. Delta had cut 1,983 so far, Travel Weekly reported.
Southwest has, so far, opted not to cut its schedule at all.
Southwest May Win Some Goodwill Back
To win back customers Southwest needs to operate as normally as possible. That means flying the routes people expect and avoiding delays that are the airline's fault.
Most passengers likely won't know that Delta, American, United, and JetBlue have made major cuts. People generally don't track airline routes. What they will notice is that they have fewer choices and prices will be higher.
Southwest will likely benefit from higher prices as well, but the company should be careful to ensure it does not take advantage. Simply by flying its regular routes at something close to its normal prices should go a long way to help the company slowly build back its relationship with its customers.
As much as people can get mad at an airline, they do need to get where they are going. If Southwest is the only affordable or even sort of affordable choice, that should force people back onto its planes, which is the first step toward the airline's big comeback.
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