Southwest Airlines is cutting 15% of its workforce in its first-ever mass layoff. Read the CEO’s full memo to employees.

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Southwest Airlines is cutting 15% of its workforce in its first-ever mass layoff. Read the CEO’s full memo to employees.

Aircraft operated by Southwest Airlines, which has decided to lay off 15% of its corporate workforce.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Southwest Airlines is cutting 15% of its corporate workforce, or 1,750 employees, the carrier said.

They’re the first major layoffs in Southwest’s 53-year history and come amid profitability woes.

Read the CEO Bob Jordan’s full message on Monday to employees.

Southwest Airlines said on Monday that it is slashing 15% of its corporate workforce, or 1,750 employees.

The cuts are the first major layoffs in

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and the airline’s latest response to the company’s financial woes as its profits plunge.

The carrier said the layoffs will help the company save about $210 million in 2025 — excluding severance packages and post-employment benefits, which could cost the company $60 to $80 million — and around $300 million in 2026.

Southwest president and CEO Bob Jordan said the severances would take effect in late April and that impacted workers would keep their pay, benefits, and bonuses until then.

Elliott Investment Management, an activist firm that took a stake in Southwest in June, has been pushing for changes at the carrier, including a restructuring of its board and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Southwest said in July that it plans to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to generate more seating revenue. The company also

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

in Atlanta last year to cut costs.

Southwest isn’t the only

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

in a changing industry.

Spirit Airlines, for example, said in July it would start bundling previously a-la-carte items like snacks and checked bags to target premium passengers.

JetBlue Airways said the same month that it would delay delivering more than 40 jets to the airline’s fleet until 2030 or later.

Low-cost competitor

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, like adding a new business-class-like cabin with a blocked middle seat to lure in more customers.

Read Southwest CEO Bob Jordan’s full message to employees on Monday:

Southwest Team:

Story Continues

Are you one of the Southwest employees who was laid off? If so, reach out to Business Insider Senior Aviation Reporter Taylor Rains on a non-work device at *****@*****.tld.

Read the original article on

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Southwest #Airlines #cutting #workforce #firstever #mass #layoff #Read #CEOs #full #memo #employees

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up