• 

  Southwest Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  WN/SWA

  Airline Type:

  Low-Cost Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Dallas Love Field, Denver International Airport, Harry Reid International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Houston Hobby Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Midway International Airport, Oakland International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1967

  CEO:

  Robert Jordan

  Country:

  United States

Southwest Airlines is cutting June flights from 119,039 domestic flights scheduled — which was set to be even more than the 115,213 flights for the airline in June 2019 — by 6.9% to 110,789 flights system-wide. In a statement to Columbus Business First, the airline says this is a matter of adjusting to capacity.

The cuts were largest at nearly 10% for Denver International Airport, where the airline's domestic schedule declined by 814 flights despite a Southwest maintenance base there. Then Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport lost 717 flights, where Southwest is building a major maintenance base. However, some Southwest routes - mostly in California - are going to see increases.

From a US airline perspective, JetBlue has had to reduce its flight schedule for the summer by 8-10% and Alaska Airlines has had to cut the number of flights by 2% to right-size its network versus capacity this spring and summer. Southwest Airlines' trim of 6.9% seems to be the average.

Pilot fatigue also an issue

Recently, the Southwest Airline Pilots Association - SWAPA - felt obligated to write management a stern letter relating to pilot fatigue. The letter stated,

Fatigue numbers have been climbing exponentially since last summer with no meaningful attempts by management to mitigate them. A return to normal flying capacity in June 2021 (using comparative data from 2017-2019 and excluding 2020 due to COVID) saw more than a 200% increase in fatigue rates.

. . .

Fatigue, both acute and cumulative, has become Southwest Airlines’ number-one safety threat.

. . .

Our primary job as Pilots is identifying and capturing errors in order to break the error chain, but our ability to do so is compromised when we are fatigued. SWAPA Pilots are tasked with, and pride themselves on, making safety their highest priority

The letter then goes on to state that more than half of the Southwest pilots did not fly their assigned routes earlier this month, but were given different routes and then had to deadhead either to the route or from the route to get back home. Southwest Airlines pilots are understandably concerned, especially with the industry pilot shortage.

Relief is coming

According to the above SWAPA tweet, Southwest is hiring and training 89 new co-pilots while upgrading 41 pilots. So there is some help on the way.

Even with the trim, new flights added

Southwest Airlines did also issue a statement on April 12, 2022, stating many more flights were being added to San Jose International (SJC). The statement noted the following additions:

• San Diego and San Jose – up to 20 times each way
• San Jose, Calif. and Las Vegas – weekday service up to 13 times a day each way
• San Jose, Calif. and Long Beach, Calif. – weekday service up to four times each way
• San Jose, Calif. and Orange County/Santa Ana, Calif. – weekday service up to 10 times each way
• San Jose and Boise – weekday service twice a day each way
• San Jose and Spokane – weekday service up to twice a day each way
• San Jose and Portland, Ore. – weekday service six times a day each way
• San Jose and Seattle/Tacoma – weekday service six times a day each way

Indeed, there are so many flights that two Southwest 737s photobombed the author's recent attempt to get a photo of a 737 MAX at the SJC gate.

Granted some Southwest flights will likely now go through the San Jose International hub and possibly as a single-seat ride with a stop at San Jose International. Furthermore, there are additional flights in and connecting to Hawaii as well as San Diego.

Have you had a flight changed due to a capacity-induced realignment? Or did you get to ride one airplane with a stop at multiple airports? Share in the comments, please!

Sources: Columbus Business First