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Southwest to Shift Flights to Philadelphia
.c The Associated Press
DALLAS (AP) - Southwest Airlines plans to cut 88 flights in October and shift planes to more profitable routes, mostly in and out of Philadelphia, officials said Monday.
The low-cost carrier said Monday it hopes the changes will increase revenue by $60 million.
``It's just taking the planes and redeploying them. The capacity remains the same,'' said Ed Stewart, a Southwest spokesman. ``We should see increased revenue by putting planes in places where lots of people want to fly.''
Stewart said the Oct. 31 schedule changes will result in 41 daily flights at Philadelphia, where Southwest began service in May. The Dallas-based carrier said Philadelphia has been its most successful opening ever.
The changes will affect about 3 percent of Southwest's schedule of 2,800 daily flights.
Southwest said it would reduce some round-trip flights between Kansas City and Chicago, Dallas and Tulsa, Houston and New Orleans, and many less-frequent routes.
For example, the company will cut daily departures at Dallas from 130 to 123 daily and reduce Kansas City flights from 70 to 61 each day. Among less-traveled routes, Southwest plans to trim Albuquerque-El Paso flights from four to three daily.
The changes were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Southwest has been hurt by rising costs for jet fuel and labor and saw second-quarter profits slide 54 percent.
The airline has partly insulated itself against fuel increase by buying about 80 percent of its supply under long-term deals with guaranteed lower prices, but still paid 21.5 percent more for fuel in the April-June period than it did a year earlier.
On the labor side, the company reached a deal last month that gave flight attendants average pay raises of 31 percent over six years.
Gary Kelly, who replaced James Parker as chief executive last month, said in a recent interview that Southwest was ``pushing the boundary of what we can afford with our wages.''
Southwest has said that earnings in the July-September quarter will beat last year's profit of $106 million. Kelly said bookings for July and August were strong.
Shares of Southwest were down 4 cents to $14.66 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
On the Net: http://www.southwest.com
08/23/04 13:32 EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
.c The Associated Press
DALLAS (AP) - Southwest Airlines plans to cut 88 flights in October and shift planes to more profitable routes, mostly in and out of Philadelphia, officials said Monday.
The low-cost carrier said Monday it hopes the changes will increase revenue by $60 million.
``It's just taking the planes and redeploying them. The capacity remains the same,'' said Ed Stewart, a Southwest spokesman. ``We should see increased revenue by putting planes in places where lots of people want to fly.''
Stewart said the Oct. 31 schedule changes will result in 41 daily flights at Philadelphia, where Southwest began service in May. The Dallas-based carrier said Philadelphia has been its most successful opening ever.
The changes will affect about 3 percent of Southwest's schedule of 2,800 daily flights.
Southwest said it would reduce some round-trip flights between Kansas City and Chicago, Dallas and Tulsa, Houston and New Orleans, and many less-frequent routes.
For example, the company will cut daily departures at Dallas from 130 to 123 daily and reduce Kansas City flights from 70 to 61 each day. Among less-traveled routes, Southwest plans to trim Albuquerque-El Paso flights from four to three daily.
The changes were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Southwest has been hurt by rising costs for jet fuel and labor and saw second-quarter profits slide 54 percent.
The airline has partly insulated itself against fuel increase by buying about 80 percent of its supply under long-term deals with guaranteed lower prices, but still paid 21.5 percent more for fuel in the April-June period than it did a year earlier.
On the labor side, the company reached a deal last month that gave flight attendants average pay raises of 31 percent over six years.
Gary Kelly, who replaced James Parker as chief executive last month, said in a recent interview that Southwest was ``pushing the boundary of what we can afford with our wages.''
Southwest has said that earnings in the July-September quarter will beat last year's profit of $106 million. Kelly said bookings for July and August were strong.
Shares of Southwest were down 4 cents to $14.66 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
On the Net: http://www.southwest.com
08/23/04 13:32 EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
