First read is on us.

Subscribe today to keep up with the latest travel industry news.

Southwest Posts Profit Fueled by Strong Holiday Bookings


Skift Take

Despite pressure to cut costs and an activist investor campaign, Southwest reported a healthy profit for the fourth quarter.
Summarize this story

Select a question above or ask something else

Summarize this story

Southwest Airlines posted a profit for the fourth quarter, boosted by strong holiday bookings and travel demand. 

The carrier had a net income of $261 million, compared with a $252 million loss reported last year. Southwest had operating revenues of $6.93 billion for the fourth quarter. 

“We closed out 2024 with positive momentum from our revenue initiatives and the performance of our operation,” said CEO Bob Jordan. “While we still have much work to do, we are pleased that the improvements from our tactical initiatives are materializing faster than expected, and our progress continues to be further supported by a constructive demand environment and industry backdrop.”

Southwest also attributed changes to its revenue management system to the profitable quarter. 

For the first quarter, Southwest is expecting revenue per available seat mile, a key profitability metric in the industry, to be up between 5% and 7%.

Earlier in the month, Southwest said it planned to halt most corporate hiring and summer internships to cut costs. Southwest had faced pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management to improve its bottom line. 

While Elliott had pushed for a leadership overhaul, the two companies settled on five board seats for Elliott and allowed Jordan to stay on as CEO. 

Southwest unveiled a turnaround strategy in September that involves premium seats, red-eye flights, airline partnerships and capacity cuts in unprofitable areas. 

Airlines Sector Stock Index Performance Year-to-Date

What am I looking at? The performance of airline sector stocks within the ST200. The index includes companies publicly traded across global markets including network carriers, low-cost carriers, and other related companies.

The Skift Travel 200 (ST200) combines the financial performance of nearly 200 travel companies worth more than a trillion dollars into a single number. See more airlines sector financial performance

Read the full methodology behind the Skift Travel 200.

Up Next

Hotels

How Data Quality Issues Impact Global Hospitality Operations

There are wide discrepancies in data quality for hotel transactions across global regions, with the largest occurring in Asia-Pacific. Because hotels and agencies need to harness data quality to thrive, they must take a more nuanced regional approach to monitoring potential issues.
Sponsored
Online Travel

Expedia Is Open to AI Partnerships and M&A

Expedia has its hands full getting Hotels.com and Vrbo back on track, and the antitrust environment may not be optimal for acquisitions these days. But if the company comes across a hard-to-resist M&A opportunity, never say never.
Tourism

What Drove China’s Lunar New Year Tourism

This year’s Lunar New Year rush in China isn’t just about big cities — smaller, heritage-rich destinations and visa-free policies played a major role in trips over eight days.