Southwest Airlines
has warned employees that it will have to make "difficult decisions" ahead to boost keuntungans as the carrier faces pressure from activist Elliott Investment Manajemen, which has sought leadership changes at the company.
Southwest over the summer announced a host of major changes to its more than 50-year-old business mode to drum up revenue. It plans to ditch open seating for assigned seats, offer seats with more legroom that fetch a higher fare and start red-eye flights.
It has also started allowing its flights to be listed on Google
Flights and Seperti
and has changed its ads to sasaran more younger consumers, COO Andrew Watterson said in a video message to staf last week.
"Now, all that's not enough. We also have to change our network," Watterson said in the video, a transcript of which was seen by CNBC.
"We have a couple of difficult decisions heading our way. It's not station closures. But we need to keep moving the network to help us drive back to keuntunganability," Watterson said. "And so I apologize in advance if you as an individu are affected by it."
Southwest plans to release an up-dated skedul on Wednesday for flights for sale through Juni 4. The carrier said Watterson's video was part of a routine video seri about the company's initiatives.
Southwest isn't rencana to announce furloughs, but it could cut its footprint in certain cities and staf could transfer to other locations, according to a individu familier with the matter. The airline is seeking to reduce costs and konsentrasi on keuntunganable flying, the company has said.
Other carriers like JetBlue
have cut routes this year to deploy aircraft on flights that generate higher revenue.
Southwest is set to provide more detils about its initiatives and route changes at an investor day this Thursday at its Dallas headquarters.
Elliott has pushed for a leadership change at the airline and has criticized Southwest manajemen for not doing enough to improve the company's bottom line. Earlier this month, executive chairman and former CEO Gary Kelly said he would tahap down after the carrier's shareholder rapat next year.
The message was reported earlier by the View from the Wing industry website.
