Southwest Airlines Outlines Plan to Handle Severe Weather Problems

Southwest said it is buying additional deicing trucks, securing deicing pads and fluid capacity at key airports, buying more engine covers and heaters for cold weather operations, and will bolster staffing during extreme cold. The airline said it would also improve its technology, enhance tools it uses to communicate with flight crews and upgrade phone systems for customers and crew to better handle surging call volumes. 

The airline said in a filing ahead of an investor conference Tuesday that it expects a $300 million to $350 million hit to revenue in the first three months of the year as a result of the disruption. It also said it plans to take a more conservative approach to its schedule at the end of this year, reducing its fourth-quarter capacity. 

A severe winter storm that swept across much of the U.S. late last year spiraled into a crisis for Southwest. 

The frigid temperatures, snow, ice and high winds in the days leading up to Christmas challenged all airlines, but Southwest couldn’t recover. By Dec. 26, the problems had become so overwhelming that the airline slashed nearly two-thirds of its schedule for three days to reset itself. Southwest said the storm was more severe than it had anticipated, describing that as a key root cause of the debacle.

In total, Southwest canceled over 16,700 flights from Dec. 21 through Dec. 31. The disruption reduced the airline’s pretax profit by $800 million at the end of last year. 

The storm initially hit Denver and Chicago’s Midway Airport, where about a quarter of the airline’s crew is based, triggering a domino effect of crew schedule changes. As the weather continued to move east, the cascade of last-minute cancellations overwhelmed Southwest’s processes and technologies, forcing it to resort to tedious manual processes that set it even further behind.  

Southwest said it has added new functionality to a software system it uses to help reassign crew after disruptions, fixing what it has described as an unforeseen gap revealed during the crisis.

Southwest said its plan was developed as a result of its initial assessments and a review by aviation consulting firm Oliver Wyman. Chief Executive

Andrew Watterson

broadly outlined a similar set of steps in testimony before a Senate committee last month. 

The airline said in its presentation materials that its review hasn’t revealed that it needs to make deeper structural changes to its business model or the structure of its network. The carrier said its operation has been strong since the start of the year, with its cancellation rate slightly better than before the pandemic. 

While the disruption continued to weigh on Southwest’s revenue in January and February, the carrier said bookings for March and beyond had picked up. About half the customers who were caught up in the December problems have booked or flown Southwest since, the company said.

Write to Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com

Southwest said it is buying additional deicing trucks, securing deicing pads and fluid capacity at key airports, buying more engine covers and heaters for cold weather operations, and will bolster staffing during extreme cold. The airline said it would also improve its technology, enhance tools it uses to communicate with flight crews and upgrade phone systems for customers and crew to better handle surging call volumes. 

The airline said in a filing ahead of an investor conference Tuesday that it expects a $300 million to $350 million hit to revenue in the first three months of the year as a result of the disruption. It also said it plans to take a more conservative approach to its schedule at the end of this year, reducing its fourth-quarter capacity. 

A severe winter storm that swept across much of the U.S. late last year spiraled into a crisis for Southwest. 

The frigid temperatures, snow, ice and high winds in the days leading up to Christmas challenged all airlines, but Southwest couldn’t recover. By Dec. 26, the problems had become so overwhelming that the airline slashed nearly two-thirds of its schedule for three days to reset itself. Southwest said the storm was more severe than it had anticipated, describing that as a key root cause of the debacle.

In total, Southwest canceled over 16,700 flights from Dec. 21 through Dec. 31. The disruption reduced the airline’s pretax profit by $800 million at the end of last year. 

The storm initially hit Denver and Chicago’s Midway Airport, where about a quarter of the airline’s crew is based, triggering a domino effect of crew schedule changes. As the weather continued to move east, the cascade of last-minute cancellations overwhelmed Southwest’s processes and technologies, forcing it to resort to tedious manual processes that set it even further behind.  

Southwest said it has added new functionality to a software system it uses to help reassign crew after disruptions, fixing what it has described as an unforeseen gap revealed during the crisis.

Southwest said its plan was developed as a result of its initial assessments and a review by aviation consulting firm Oliver Wyman. Chief Executive

Andrew Watterson

broadly outlined a similar set of steps in testimony before a Senate committee last month. 

The airline said in its presentation materials that its review hasn’t revealed that it needs to make deeper structural changes to its business model or the structure of its network. The carrier said its operation has been strong since the start of the year, with its cancellation rate slightly better than before the pandemic. 

While the disruption continued to weigh on Southwest’s revenue in January and February, the carrier said bookings for March and beyond had picked up. About half the customers who were caught up in the December problems have booked or flown Southwest since, the company said.

Write to Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com