Southwest CEO Believes First Week of April Was the Bottom
Photo Credit: Southwest Airlines tests a new cleaning process during the Coronavirus outbreak. Southwest Airlines / Stephen M. Keller
Skift Take
Residents of many U.S. states are still under stay-at-home orders. It seems too early to try to promote more air travel. But Southwest needs cash to stay afloat, so it probably must keep trying to fill its aircraft.
As it burns $900 million in net cash per month, Southwest Airlines is evaluating ideas to bolster public confidence in air travel, so more people will book and fly. Those ideas include requiring masks for passengers and flight attendants, distributing hand sanitizer and wipes, and booking flights to two-thirds capacity to promote distancing, executives said Tuesday on their first-quarter earnings call.
The changes, many of which may be announced soon, come as Southwest wrestles with some of the worst business conditions in its history. Southwest reported a net loss of $94 million for the first quarter, its first quarterly loss since 2011.
This current quarter likely will be much worse, as Southwest's business did not decline until March, the quarter's final month, when Americans moved, en masse, to cancel flights amid the coronavirus pandemic. For the past month, executives said Tuesday, load factors have been in the single digits, even though the airline has moved briskly to can
