USN--
The answer to your question is no one really knows anymore. At the end of 2007 our CEO said we'd barely grow in 2008 and we've hired almost 500 pilots from what I hear. Now he's saying no growth for 2009. He's talking about having 6 codeshare agreements by the end '09. Our August year over year load factor is down almost 5% and we're cutting a bunch of flights from the schedule in January. Couple this with the often discussed diminishing fuel hedging position and it doesn't look too great for '09 hiring.
On the bright side, our CEO is on record in speeches and print as saying he's not looking for any pay/benefit concessions from the pilot group. He's on a mission to "return Southwest Airlines to profitibility." Not a bad mission but I suspect growth will suffer for a while. Then again I'm just a pilot so take my opinion with a grain or two of salt.
S.B.
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