Southwest Airlines Records $277 Million Net Income In Q3

Today, Southwest Airlines reported its earnings for the third quarter. The Dallas-based low-cost carrier recorded a net income of $277 million in the three months ending September.

Southwest Q3

Many United States airlines have reported high revenues and profits and have continued to return to ‘normalcy.’ Southwest Airlines is included, reporting a record third-quarter operating revenue of $6.2 billion.

The airline’s CEO, Bob Jordan, stated that the airline saw a record summer for leisure travel and that revenue trends remained strong even in September. Jordan added that the airline anticipates revenues improving from the third to the fourth quarter of 2022, despite lower capacity.

“We remain focused on maintaining our current momentum and expect to generate strong profits and margins in fourth quarter 2022, based on current trends and barring any significant unforeseen events.”

Jordan also referenced Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida recently and impacted many residents of the sunshine state and airport and airline operations.

“Our thoughts remain with those impacted by Hurricane Ian. We quickly resumed full service to all affected airports with the exception of Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, which is currently expected to operate a reduced flight schedule through at least the end of this year.

Aircraft deliveries continue to hinder airlines as delivery dates are pushed, and some delivery dates are also unknown. CEO Bob Jordan said Southwest is working with Boeing to finalize the 2023 delivery plans but expects delays to persist into 2024.

Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying

Southwest has already released its flight schedule for the first half of 2023. The current schedule shows a 10% capacity increase in Q1 2023 and a 14% increase in Q2, year-over-year. The schedule for the second half of 2023 has not yet been finalized because of the uncertainty of aircraft deliveries. By summer 2023, Southwest expects to reach 90% of its network and complete restoration by December 2023.

“As we finalize our plan for next year, we remain laser-focused on our goals to grow full year 2023 profits and margins, excluding special items, year-over-year, and to generate healthy returns on invested capital for our Shareholders.”

New Southwest Boeing 737 MAX with retro livery

In recent years, Southwest’s livery has changed a few times, and the older classic liveries have slowly disappeared from the airline’s fleet.

Until this year, Southwest had a Boeing 737-700 with a retro desert-gold painting that was a tribute to the airline’s founder, Herb Kelleher. In March, the airline announced that the -700 gold aircraft was being retired but that the livery was being transferred to a MAX 8.

A few weeks ago, the new MAX8 with the retro gold livery was spotted at the Renton Airportin Washington state. The aircraft is registered as N871HK and has manufacturer serial number 67775 and line number 8405. Currently, there is no indication of when the new aircraft will take flight for the airline. As of October 8, it had not yet performed its first test flight, and based on recent aircraft, the process from first flight to delivery takes about 10-14 days.