Southwest Airlines has announced plans for a voluntary separation program that will impact employees at 18 airports across the United States, as well as its Dallas headquarters, after the carrier was forced to trim capacity on the back of aircraft delivery delays by beleaguered manufacturer Boeing.
As flagged by aviation insider JonNYC on social media platform X, Southwest shared the plan with employees in an internal memo that was sent on Friday.
“As you know, the Company has experienced aircraft delivery delays, resulting in changes to our plan and reductions in capacity, which has also led to overstaffing in some locations and Teams,” the message explained.
“As the Company plans for moderated capacity growth, we are introducing a 2024 Voluntary Separation Program to help align our staffing numbered with our business and support the long-term viability of our Company,” the message continued.
Known as VSP24, the airline said that the package “may be appealing for employees who are considering retirement within the next few years, would like to go back to school, would like to spend more time with family, or have other interests in taking time away from work.”
One of the worst airport locations is Atlanta, where the airline will offer the VSP24 package to customer service agents, operations agents, cargo agents, provisioning agents, customer service supervisors, ramp supervisors, cargo supervisors, assistance managers, and operations managers.
Earlier this year, Southwest announced that it would slash 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 city from 567 per week to just 381.
The plan to cut flights in Atlanta drew the wrath of the flight attendants’ union, which slammed Southwest for what it described as “gaslighting at its finest.”
The cuts will mean that the flight attendant base in Atlanta will need to shrink, although affected crew members will be offered the chance to move to other airports, and neither pilots nor flight attendants will be impacted by the voluntary separation scheme.
Other airports to be hit by the voluntary separation program include Buffalo, Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Portland, and Tampa.
Los Angeles will be significantly impacted with a slew of positions open to the VSP24 program, such as operations agents and ramp agents, customer service supervisors, ramp supervisors, and operations managers.
Employees who take up the package will leave the airline on December 30, 2024.
In April, Southwest said it would end the year with 2,000 fewer employees due to worse-than-anticipated delays of new Boeing 737MAX jets. Along with the VSP24 program, the airline has also lowered hiring and offered voluntary time off programs.
Southwest had originally hoped to take delivery of 85 new 737MAX jets in 2024, but increased regulator scrutiny at Boeing, a damaging strike by aircraft assembly line workers, and continuing supply chain issues have forced the airline to drastically cut the number of planes it expects to add to its fleet.
Looks like a good excuse to reduce head count. Where is the union????