Southwest Airlines said it plans to ramp up winter staff levels and increase the number of de-icing trucks it has on hand in order to avoid another catastrophic holiday meltdown.
As part of its tactical plan to boost operation resiliency, Southwest said it will also invest in other technology improvements including upgrading its customer support services.
In a Tuesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the carrier said it expects to incur a revenue loss of about $300 million to $350 million in the first quarter of 2023 for the disruption in December that led to nearly 17,000 flights being scrapped.
The airline already reported a net loss of $220 million last quarter due to the operational disaster that cost the airline approximately $800 million and is now being investigated by the Transportation Department.
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES RAISES WI-FI FEES FOR PASSENGERS WITH CONNECTING FLIGHTS
However, in the filing the company reiterated that the winter storm that rolled in right before Christmas was “more sudden and severe than it had predicted and thus had a greater than planned impact on station operations.”
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Last month, COO Andrew Watterson who told the Senate Commerce Committee that the sub-zero temperatures, high winds and frozen precipitation “were worse than forecast” and “had a wide-ranging impact” on operations, especially at its key airports in Denver and Chicago Midway.
