Flight attendants at Southwest Airlines say they are “outraged” by the carrier’s decision on Wednesday to slash the number of flights out of its Atlanta base by nearly a third in a bid to cut unprofitable routes and boost its financial performance.
In an internal memo sent to staffers on September 25, the embattled airline said it would cut the number of destinations it serves from Atlanta from 37 to just 21. The airline will also reduce the number of flights to and from the airport from 567 to 381 per week.
The significant drop in flights to and from Atlanta means that the number of pilots and flight attendants based in Atlanta will be considerably reduced. Some estimates suggest that as many as 300 crew will be displaced by the cost cuts.
“We are outraged,” the TWU 556 union which represents flight attendants at the airline slammed a short time after the news was made public. “This is gaslighting at its finest,” the statement continued.
“While Southwest management continued to assure flight attendants of the security and growth of its Atlanta base, promises were broken and now the lives of flight attendants and their families are severely impacted.”
“Yet again, flight attendants are paying the price for poor management decisions.”
It’s not just the flight attendant union that is unhappy with the recent performance of Southwest’s leadership team. The airline is currently trying to fight off pressure from activist investor Elliott which has threatened to call a special meeting within weeks to force management change at the carrier.
Elliott has accused Southwest CEO Bob Jordan and the current board members of being in “full self-preservation mode” at the expense of the airline’s future.
After acquiring a significant minority stake in Southwest, the activist investor firm is trying to install its own pick of board members to drive a major change in the airline’s strategy.
Elliott says the changes so far announced by Southwest to improve its financial performance are “too little, too late”.
Last week, Southwest’s chief operating officer Andrew Watterson told staffers in a leaked video message that the airline would have to make “difficult decisions” in the coming months – a comment that was widely interpreted as meaning that job losses could be on the horizon.
The decision to reduce its crew base in Atlanta will not, however, lead to involuntary job losses and Southwest says it intends to offer transfers to around 200 impacted flight attendants and as many as 140 pilots to other crew bases across the United States.
The news that no flight attendant would be laid off was, though, of little comfort to the flight attendant union.
“Southwest Airlines management is failing employees while impacting customers,” the union’s statement blasted. “Management continues to make decision that lack full transparency, sufficient communication with union leadership, and most alarmingly, a lack of focus on what has made the airline great, the employees.”
Hopefully things work out for the employees. Obviously WN’s model has run its course. Soon bags won’t be flying free. I smell a gradual transition to a hub and spoke model, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they start flying bigger, non Boeing planes and to international destinations in the future. They were clever for a long time, but time, industry changes, their slow conversion to a state of the art reservations system coupled with the pandemic have changed the playing field for this legendary carrier.
Since when do employees dictate how a company does business? Reassignment sounds much better than being let go for financial reasons like Southwest being profitable. He warned that things were going to change. He’s only just begun.
Many other airlines do this of forcing crew to relocate after they reduce routes in the bases. I’ve got almost 25 years in the industry and I feel bad for the affected crewmembers. Sadly the airlines reward top executives and board members but not the hard working staff. The pilots are treated like royalty and the f a s get the scraps. You get what you pay for and that’s why people leave the airline rat race. The customers suffer but who else are you going to buy a ticket from ? Corporate greed grows and passenger satisfaction declines.
All I can say is that if Southwest becomes like the big 3, they’ve lost my loyalty forever.