Southwest said last week it has cut five minutes from turnaround times at 19 airports. The carrier first announced this initiative in September.
In 2025, the airline plans to ramp up capacity by 1% to 2%, all by reducing turnaround times and implementing redeye flights.
“Reducing turn time generates more flying from each aircraft, increasing our capital efficiency, and unlike normal utilization increases, which typically extend the day earlier and later, this does not increase the operating day so it is favorable to RASM and CASM,” Southwest’s chief operating officer, Andrew Watterson, said during the carrier’s first-quarter earnings call.
Shake-Ups at Key Stations
As part of this initiative, Southwest is removing five minutes of turn time from each flight. Of the 19 airports already seeing this change, the airline’s “mega stations” – including Dallas and Nashville, Tennessee – are also included.
In a September Investor Day presentation, the airline shared that its average turnaround time was 49 minutes, the shortest of any major U.S. carrier. It hopes to bring this down to roughly 44 minutes, freeing up the equivalent of approximately 16 aircraft.
