Southwest Airlines to Cut 1,000 More Daily Flights, Halt All International Routes
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is canceling 1,000 daily flights beginning Sunday and halting all international routes as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cripple air travel.
The airline said Friday that the new cancellations account for about 25% of its nearly 4,000 daily flights. It’ll continue flying that schedule until April 14. Southwest previously said it would cut 20% of its flights from April 14 through June 5.
“During this unprecedented time, we will continually assess the real-time, market demand for Southwest’s service with the goal of canceling flights that have alternate flights or route options and that affect the fewest number of customers,” the company said.
The decision to halt international flights beginning Sunday was made “due to the number of governments restricting air travel across their borders,” the company said. It hopes to resume those routes May 4.
Southwest’s 10 international destinations include Mexico, Jamaica, Bahamas, Aruba, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. It operates 170 international flights a day during peak times.
Flights to Hawaii, a key part of Southwest’s 2020 growth strategy, are not being reduced, according to a company spokesman.
On Monday, Southwest said it would reduce flights between April and June and freeze hiring, following several weeks where cancellations exceeded new bookings. It described the cancellations as “unprecedented,” leaving flights only about half full.
It’s since taken out a $1 billion loan, tapped its credit line for an additional $1 billion and offered voluntary leave to employees as it looks for other ways to cut costs. Southwest has about 10,000 employees in North Texas and 62,000 nationwide.
On Friday, Southwest had to significantly scale back its fights in and out of Midway International Airport, its Chicago hub, days after federal authorities closed the airport’s control tower when technicians tested positive for coronavirus.
It canceled about 170 of its roughly 250 daily flights in and out of Midway due to airspace restrictions that followed the control tower’s closure.
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