[evgeniysharapov]

It's spectacular to see LUV devolving from one of the best managed and employee oriented airline company to this. It's not an outstanding incident though, the company was on the downward trajectory from, I would say, end of 2017. Sooner or later every US airline company declares bankruptcy, LUV so far has escaped it. But one would bet it will happen this year (unlikely) or next year.

[ironmagma]

What has been the problem(s)?

[evgeniysharapov]

Overall, it's operational fragility. Back in 2017 or 2018 there was engine failure, that started inspection of all planes, that triggered massive flights cancellation, revenue drops and calls for reconsidering their seating policy and baggage fees. Who would forget that SW had to park their fleet after that Boeing catastrophe and investigation. Gary Kelly spending too much time lobbying instead of improving company efficiency. 2020 was almost a catastrophe for the company has it not been for billions in cash injections, subsidies and loans from federal government. Another one is, SW used to be quite unusually employee oriented for an airline company. This has changed in last 3-4 years based on their negotiations with pilots and flight attendants unions, which does reflect on company's performance.