Southwest Airlines will offer options for “voluntary separation” and extended leaves of absence to airport staff in 18 cities across the US.
The reason for the offers is the carrier’s need to cut back flight capacity due to aircraft delivery delays from Boeing, according to a report by BNN Bloomberg, citing an email from Southwest Airlines on November 11, 2024.
Workers who take the offer will leave the airline by the end of 2024. However, Southwest has not disclosed how many people will receive the offers or how many jobs it plans to cut. The offers should reach the workers by the end of this week.
A Southwest spokesperson said the “voluntary separation” offers are available at 18 locations, including airports in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, Baltimore, Detroit and Cleveland.
Other cities include Buffalo, New York; Corpus Christi in Texas; Myrtle Beach in South Carolina; Portland in Oregon. Additionally, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers in Florida; and Burbank, Long Beach, San Jose, Santa Ana in California.
The offers will be available to airport ground staff, including customer service, ramp and operations agents, along with cargo workers and some supervisors. Employees at Southwest’s headquarters who assist airport staff will also be given the option for the buyout.
“Offering voluntary separation and extended time off to contract and non-contract employees, along with continued slowed hiring, will help us avert overstaffing in certain locations,” the airline’s email continued.
On October 24, 2024, the carrier reported its third quarter results for 2024, indicating that it expects capital spending for 2024 to be about $2.1 billion. The amount includes around $825 million for aircraft, based on an estimated 20 Boeing 737 MAX 8 deliveries in 2024. The reduction is the result of delivery delays caused by the recent seven-week strike, which ended on November 4, 2024.
The company expects a 4% drop in capacity for the fourth quarter of 2024 and a decrease of 1 to 3% in capacity for the first quarter of 2025, compared to the same periods in 2023.
