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Southwest Airlines has reported a net loss of $149 million for the first quarter of 2025. This comes amid a period of substantial changes for the company, which has faced challenges including a proxy battle with an activist shareholder. During this time, Southwest recorded revenues of $6.4 billion. Of this total, $5.8 billion was from passenger revenues, showing a 1.6% increase compared to the previous year. Operating expenses also decreased by 1.1%, amounting to $6.6 billion, which included $62 million in severance-related costs. The airline's operating loss stood at $223 million but improved to $128 million when excluding special items.
Bob Jordan, President and CEO of Southwest Airlines, credited the company's performance in the first quarter, stating, “We ran a stellar operation in the first quarter, leading the industry in on-time performance and improving on almost every operating metric, year-over-year.”
However, the airline experienced a decline in operational metrics compared to the first quarter of 2024. Revenue passengers decreased by 8.8% to 29.9 million, enplaned passengers fell by 9.2% to 37.1 million, and load factors decreased by 4.4% to 73.9%. Furthermore, Southwest operated 331,886 trips during the quarter, compared to 349,979 during the same period in the previous year.
