Southwest Airlines has reported a second quarter net profit of $367 million or $0.58 per diluted share on a 4.5 percent year-over-year increase in revenue to a record $7.4 billion. At June 30, 2024, the carrier had total liquidity of $11.0 billion.
On Thursday (July 25, 2024), Southwest Airlines reported their second quarter financial results for the period ending June 30, 2024. The carrier reported a second quarter net profit of $367 million or $0.58 per share on a year-over-year revenue increase of 4.5 percent to a record $7.4 billion. Southwest’s second quarter revenue per available seat mile (RASM) declined 3.8 percent versus the same period las year to 15.90 cents, while cost per available seat mile (CASM) increased 2.6 percent to 15.04 cents. Costs excluding fuel (CASM-ex) increased 1.8 percent to 11.58 cents. At the end of Q2 2024, Southwest had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $10.0 billion, plus a fully available $1.0 billion revolving credit line for total liquidity of $11.0 billion.
In Thursday’s announcement, Southwest Airlines’ President, CEO, and Vice Chairman of the Board, Bob Jordan, said,
“Our second quarter performance was impacted by both external and internal factors and fell short of what we believe we are capable of delivering. The Southwest Airlines Board of Directors, our Leadership Team, and I are all aligned and committed to serving the interests of and creating lasting value for our Shareholders, who have provided us with highly valuable and candid feedback on our performance and path forward. Our goal is to restore industry-leading margins and historical levels of Shareholder returns through our comprehensive plan to deliver transformational commercial initiatives, improved operational efficiency, and capital allocation discipline.
“We are taking urgent and deliberate steps to mitigate near-term revenue challenges and implement longer-term transformational initiatives that are designed to drive meaningful top and bottom-line growth. As we announced this morning, our implementation of assigned and premium seating is part of an ongoing and comprehensive upgrade to the Customer Experience, one that research shows Customers overwhelmingly prefer. With record numbers of Passengers choosing Southwest Airlines today and work underway to address the challenges we face, we are excited about what the future holds. We remain focused on developing and implementing a robust portfolio of initiatives to drive margin expansion and improve ROIC performance, all of which will be shared in detail at our Investor Day in late September.
“I want to thank our incredible Employees for their continued hard work, especially in this challenging environment. I am confident we have the right strategy, the right plan, and the right Team in place to continue evolving the business and driving Southwest Airlines forward.”
Southwest Airlines' Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results - Courtesy Southwest Airlines
Founded in 1971, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) has distinguished itself by offering exemplary customer service delivered by nearly 75,000 team members at 121 airports across 11 countries. The airline carried over 137 million guests during 2023. Southwest offers a robust point-to-point network with a strong presence across leisure and business markets. During peak travel seasons, the airline operates more than 4,000 daily departures to 120 destinations across the U.S. and 10 additional countries. Southwest also continues to develop tangible steps toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, including offering Customers the opportunity to help the airline offset carbon emissions.
In trading Tuesday morning (July 25, 2024), shares in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) were up 5.30% to $28.02/share (11:57 AM EDT).
Source: Southwest Airlines
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