Facing Boeing delivery delays and ongoing financial pressure, Southwest is rolling out what it calls a “Voluntary Separation Program” at several airports. The workforce reductions are slated to affect both union and nonunion workers, the carrier said in a memo on Friday.
The Dallas-based airline hasn’t been shy about its plans to reduce head count this year, primarily driven by attrition and voluntary time-off programs. During an earnings call in October, CEO Bob Jordan said the airline is on track to reduce head count by 2,000 on a year-over-year basis.
“Maybe…we do offer tools around things like early out. We just need to foresee the numbers, understand where we are and then look at what tools it takes to hit the target,” Jordan added.
2024 Separation Program
According to the Friday memo posted by airline insider JonNYC on Twitter/X, the early separation program will include 18 airports along with select headquarters-based positions. Employees who opt in will resign by the end of the year.
Most impacted are Southwest’s stations in Los Angeles and Atlanta, where the carrier is looking to cut a variety of above- and below-wing positions. Southwest significantly scaled back capacity in both cities, axing nearly half of its scheduled flights from Atlanta alone.
The airline noted that the voluntary separations are targeted toward airports and work groups that are “most overstaffed.”
Although Southwest has never furloughed or laid off staff in its over 50-year history, it has offered similar early-out programs. In 2020, the airline offered its “most generous” buyout offer due to the COVID-19 pandemic with nearly 30% of employees opting in.
