The day after Christmas was one of shortest days of the year and it was probably still too long for Southwest Airlines (LUV).
That's when the Dallas-based airline was in the midst of its infamous holiday debacle as it canceled 23% of its flights as of Dec. 26, leaving hundreds of thousands of people temporarily stranded.
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Southwest had the dubious honor that day of being at the top of the list for both canceled and delayed flights.
The problems had been ongoing since Christmas Day, when Southwest canceled 39% of its flights and delayed 43%.
There was a lot being said about the airline during this normally festive time of the year, but nothing resembling tidings of comfort and joy.
More recently -- as in April 25 -- Southwest had another problem on its hands when it briefly grounded all flights "to work through data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure."
'Expecting a Robust Recovery'
The airline could probably use some good news right about now and that kind of happened on April 27 when Southwest reported record first-quarter revenue of $5.7 billion, up a stunning 22% from a year ago and matching Wall Street's estimates.
"As expected, we incurred a first quarter 2023 net loss that resulted from the negative financial impact of approximately $380 million pre-tax, or $294 million after-tax, related to the December 2022 operational disruption," Bob Jordan, president and CEO said in a statement.
Jordan said that most of the impact was driven by a $325 million loss due to the cancellations of holiday return travel and a deceleration in bookings for January and February travel.
"Despite that, travel demand and revenue trends in March 2023 were strong and resulted in solid profitability for the month and record first quarter revenues," he said.
The CEO noted that the negative revenue impact was primarily isolated to January and February, with March "experiencing a robust recovery."
"The current booking curve appears to have returned close to pre-pandemic norms, and leisure demand and yields continue to be strong heading into the busy summer travel season," Jordan said.
Based on current revenue trends and the airline's cost outlook, which includes market wage rate accruals for all open labor contracts, Jordan said that "we expect solid profits in second quarter 2023 and continue to expect solid profits and year-over-year growth in both margins and return on invested capital for full year 2023."
Facing Some Serious Headwinds
But there are some serious headwinds facing the airline.
Southwest reported an adjusted loss of 27 cents per share, wider than analyst estimates of a 22 cent loss, which resulted in the air carrier losing $159 million in the quarter.
The airline also said it flagged 20 fewer deliveries of the MAX jets this year from Boeing (BA), resulting in a roughly one-point decrease in year-over-year planned 2023 capacity.
Investors were none too pleased as shares were down more than 5% at last check.
Southwest also got walloped in a recently released study by WalletHub.
The personal finance website compared the nine largest U.S. airlines and two regional carriers across 14 metrics, ranging from cancellation to late rates to baggage mishaps and inflight comfort.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) was at the top of the list with the lowest rate of cancellations delays, mishandled luggage, and denied boardings.
Spirit Airlines (SAVE), SkyWest (SKYW), United Airlines (UAL) and Alaska Airlines (ALK) made-up the top five.
Meanwhile, Southwest came in dead last.
"For the first quarter of 2023, Southwest ranked second among marketing carriers in on-time performance and we look forward to welcoming customers onboard with our legendary Southwest Hospitality during the summer travel season," a company spokesperson said.
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