EXTO 2.0
 

Is this going to happen here again?

This is off the press release this morning. Lots of cat nip in it.

"Additionally, we are evaluating options to enhance our Customer Experience as we study product preferences and expectations, including onboard seating and our cabin. And, we are implementing cost control initiatives, including limiting hiring and offering voluntary time off programs. We now expect to end 2024 with approximately 2,000 fewer Employees as compared with the end of 2023."

"Given the Company's discussions with Boeing and expected aircraft delivery delays, the Company plans for approximately 20 -8 aircraft deliveries in 2024, a reduction from the Company's previous expectation of 46 -8 aircraft deliveries"

"The Company currently plans for capacity growth beyond 2024 to be at or below macroeconomic growth trends until the Company reaches its long-term financial goal to consistently achieve after-tax return on invested capital ("ROIC") well above its weighted average cost of capital ("WACC")."

If their is good news in this release,

"Liquidity of $11.5 billion, well in excess of debt outstanding of $8.0 billion"

"The Company had a net cash position of $2.5 billion, and adjusted debt to invested capital ("leverage") of 47 percent as of March 31, 2024"

"The Company continues to have a large base of unencumbered assets with a net book value of approximately $17.2 billion, including $14.4 billion in aircraft value and $2.8 billion in non- aircraft assets such as spare engines, ground equipment, and real estate"

Southwest is gonna have to get lean and mean this year and next. Why we stopped off the street pilot hiring but are continuing to bring on board D225 pilots is a headscratcher for me. We are already overstaffed. Feelings dont matter, the balance sheet does.

No idea how the 225 works but I’m assuming we offer a deal on training in exchange for them coming to work for us. If they go to a competitor….its like training a pilot for Delta. By bringing them on we’re protecting an investment…until they quit and go to Delta because commuting cross country when there’s nobody behind them would suck.

225 will probably slow down at some point also. Their is always attrition that needs to be backfilled. 225 is small enough to fill that gap for now. The fact SWA will be down in fleet size by the end of the year, ETO will offered for sure.

Nope. No deal on training. The students get NOTHING from the company except a halfhearted expectation of a future job.

What are everyone's opinions on whether SWA will bring on those of us that had delayed CJOs and have been put into a 'Deferred hiring pool' for 2025? Obviously my crystal ball is faulty, so wondering what the company issued ones at Southwest are coming up with!

As far as I am aware, there are roughly 350 of us that had class dates/CJOs deferred from 2024, we've been told that the company intends to honor them according to our last correspondance with HR. However, as with everything in this industry, nothing is guaranteed until the cloth of your pants touch an actual seat, and considering the latest financail results and indications of the need to further cut costs, I imagine there's a few in the 'pool' that are now 'touching cloth' with regards to class dates...etc

While this isn't good news, it's temporary. When SWA gets new aircraft deliveries, they will grow
again. When that happens is up to Boeing and the feds.
If it were me, I definitely wouldn't base my expectations or plans on a swa job offer right now, though.

Southwest's woes are directly tied to Boeing's woes at this point. If Boeing can get their act together and get the Max7 certified, then the hiring situation will likely turn around in a hurry. Isn't there 30+ Max7s completed and ready for delivery?

I see a bleak 2024 and probably into early 2025. If Boeing can't get it together by then then who knows... Not sure there is a Plan B and if there is hopefully it doesn't involve buying pilots instead of hiring them, but there is so much money tied up in the Max that I find it hard to believe that it won't get certified sometime in 2025.

I do like that Dallas is exploring changes to seating, maybe even a premium option at some point? ATL does not sound good though. It's already the place senority goes to die, further reductions on the horizon won't help. United can have OHare and Intercontinental as far as I'm concerned from a flying and layover prospective.

Just like 20 yrs ago, many spent time swimming in the "pool" waiting their class date. Some for years. SWA regretted the VSP program. It hindered them when the flying economy immediately snapped backed early 2021. 2000 people is a small number considering the number of employees at large. A couple hundred pilots. That could be handled with a voluntary unpaid LOA.