{"id":2222,"date":"2025-02-19T05:31:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T10:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/02\/19\/southwest-layoffs-will-take-15-of-its-work-force-2\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T05:31:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T10:31:23","slug":"southwest-layoffs-will-take-15-of-its-work-force-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/02\/19\/southwest-layoffs-will-take-15-of-its-work-force-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Layoffs Will Take 15% of Its Work Force"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Southwest Airlines on Monday announced plans to cut 1,750 jobs, the first broad layoffs in the airline\u2019s 53-year history.<\/p>\n

The company said the cuts would mostly focus on corporate positions, accounting for about 15 percent of that work force. The layoffs will include 11 senior leaders with titles of vice president or higher, the airline said. Most of the cuts will be carried out by the end of June.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Southwest\u2019s chief executive, Bob Jordan, called the decision \u201cunprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are at a pivotal moment as we transform Southwest Airlines into a leaner, faster and more agile organization,\u201d he said. \u201cI arrived at this decision thoughtfully and carefully, knowing how hard it will be to say goodbye to colleagues who have been a significant part of our Southwest culture and accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Jordan\u2019s own job was under threat last year after the hedge fund Elliott Management amassed an approximately 10 percent stake in the airline and began to push for widespread change, including Mr. Jordan\u2019s ouster. Elliott had accused Mr. Jordan and the airline\u2019s board of complacency and failing to control costs, eroding profit margins that were once the envy of the industry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n

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In response, Mr. Jordan laid out a three-year plan to make sweeping changes, including dropping the airline\u2019s seat-yourself policy in favor of assigned seating, adding seats with extra legroom and introducing red-eye flights \u2014 the first of which began last week \u2014 to make more use of its planes.<\/p>\n

Southwest also agreed to add board members recommended by the investment firm, and Elliott ultimately dropped its demand for Mr. Jordan\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

The job cuts announced on Monday will save Southwest about $210 million this calendar year and $300 million next year, the airline said. But those figures do not include a one-time cost of $60 million to $80 million to pay out severance and other benefits to laid-off workers.<\/p>\n

Southwest had an unrivaled 47-year streak of annual profits until 2020, when it lost money along with the rest of the industry during the Covid pandemic. It has reported profits each year since and remains the only one of the four largest U.S. airlines to have never filed for bankruptcy protection, though its costs have outpaced those of some of its peers.<\/p>\n

Still, the airline, which offers only limited international flights, is a behemoth: Southwest carries more passengers and operates more flights in the United States than any other carrier. The airline is also beloved by fliers, who have routinely given its economy class the highest customer satisfaction scores of any carrier, according to J.D. Power, a market research firm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southwest Airlines on Monday announced plans to cut 1,750 jobs, the first broad layoffs in the airline\u2019s 53-year history. The company said the cuts would mostly focus on corporate positions, accounting for about 15 percent of that work force. The layoffs will include 11 senior leaders with titles of vice president or higher, the airline […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-market","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}