Southwest Airlines is the latest airline to cancel flights for spring due to staffing challenges, increased fuel prices, and supply restraints.
According to flight scheduling service Cirium, on March 15, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines just removed 14,500 flights from its March through May schedule, citing “continued challenges with available staffing.”
Fort Worth-based airline American Airlines (AA) cut approximately 40,000 flights from their schedule for March as they have still experienced delivery delays of Boeing’s 787 planes and pilot shortages. The cancellation includes over 1,600 arrivals and departures from the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
The cuts were verified by an AA official, who also stated the airline is working with passengers ahead of time to ensure that adjustments have a “minimal” impact on customers.
In a filing on March 15, Southwest Airlines said that it now expects its flight schedule for 2022 to be around 4% lower than it was in 2019, despite stronger-than-expected reservations so far this year. Even though travelers are eager to fly, Southwest Airlines’ capacity will be around 7% lower in the second quarter than in 2019. On the other hand, Southwest predicted that revenue would be slightly higher than expected.
The cancellations come as many other airlines announced delays and flight cuts.
United announced on March 15 that it would reduce the capacity for the remainder of 2022 “in response to several macroeconomic factors, including rising fuel prices and expected aircraft delivery delays.”
They cut around 2,500 flights from its May schedules and more than 20,000 flights from June to August. With high fuel prices, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines and Las Vegas-based Allegiant recently announced that they would be decreasing flying schedules by 5%.
In addition to flight cuts, Southwest intends to add more employees to the company. In January, CEO Bob Jordan said, “While we’ve got a great plan for 2022, it all comes down to hiring.”
Southwest Airlines announced in January that it aims to hire another 8,000 people this year after hiring over 5,000 last year. Southwest raised its beginning rate from $15 to $17 per hour in January, an increase that will cost the firm $20 million to $25 million this year.
