Southwest Airlines announced (08-Jun-2021) the following updated guidance regarding its financial and operational trends:
- May-2021: Operating revenues performed in line with expectations and represented a sequential increase compared with Apr-2021, driven primarily by improvements in leisure passenger traffic and fares;
- May-2021 business revenues were down approximately 77% compared with May-2019, which represented continued sequential improvements compared with down 80% in Apr-2021, down 85% in Mar-2021 and down 90% in Feb-2021;
- Based on current bookings, the company continues to expect another sequential improvement in operating revenues in Jun-2021 compared with May-2021, also driven primarily by expected improvements in leisure passenger traffic and fares;
- Jun-2021: Operating revenues now expected to be at the "better end" of its previous guidance range;
- Based on current bookings, leisure fare levels in Jun-2021 and Jul-2021 are comparable with 2019 levels;
- The airline continues to experience "fairly typical" booking patterns for summer 2021 travel. It also continued to experience "modest, consistent" improvements in business passenger demand and bookings;
- Business travel demand continues to "significantly lag" leisure trends and is expected to continue to have a negative impact on close in demand and average passenger fares in 2Q2021;
- The airline continues to expect 2Q2021 capacity to increase approximately 87% year-on-year and decrease approximately 16% compared with 2Q2019;
- Aug-2021: Capacity expected to increase approximately 39% year-on-year to be comparable with Aug-2019. Passenger demand and booking trends remain primarily leisure oriented;
- Actual flown capacity may differ materially from currently published flight schedules or current estimations;
- The airline expects 2Q2021 operating expenses, excluding fuel and oil expense, special items and profit sharing, to increase in the range of 10% to 15% year-on-year. [more - original PR]