#SOUTHWEST AIRLINES COMPETITORS FULL#

Understandably, fuel costs increased 35.3% to $2.30 per gallon in Q1, and this was a driving force behind the challenges faced by many airline companies in the first quarter. Southwest hedges against fuel expenses and has hedged 63% of the fuel requirement for the year. This is not the first time Southwest missed earnings estimates - the record in the last three years has been mixed. The company, however, expects to return to profitability in the next quarter given that demand is increasingly becoming steady after a period of heightened volatility in bookings for over two years. The company reported an adjusted loss of 32 cents per share for the first quarter, wider than analyst expectations for a loss of 30 cents per share. Southwest also expects its fleet capacity to expand to 814 by the end of the year. To keep up with the rising demand, the company is focused on adequately staffing its operations and has increased the employee headcount by 3,300 or 6% in the first quarter. The load factor was 81% in the comparable quarter in 2019.

The load factor, which measures the proportion of capacity filled by passengers, also improved to 77% from 64.3% in the year-ago quarter. Southwest is gradually enhancing its capacity which rose 48.6% YoY in Q1 to approximately 90.7% of pre-pandemic levels.

We believe the company's expectations for second-quarter revenue to surpass pre-pandemic levels by 8%-12% are not unreasonable. The Omicron variant forced travelers to cancel bookings in the first two months of the quarter, but March revenues topped the pre-pandemic levels as the demand for both domestic and international travel hit a new high following the initial outbreak of Omicron. Passenger revenue rose 141% year-over-year, driving the overall financial performance of the company as this segment accounts for the bulk of company revenue.

#SOUTHWEST AIRLINES COMPETITORS FULL#

The reported revenue came to around 91% of pre-pandemic levels, which suggests the company is inching toward full recovery. In the first quarter of 2022, Southwest reported a 129% year-over-year growth in revenue to $4.7 billion, surpassing Wall Street estimates. The company was also nominated to Fortune's 2021 list of the World's Most Admired Companies and eventually ranked 28. In addition to passenger transportation which accounts for the bulk of revenue, Southwest also transports freight domestically and internationally to destinations such as Mexico City, Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Montego Bay, and San Jose.Дespite being a low-cost carrier, Southwest has an excellent track record for its high customer satisfaction and was ranked second in the J.D Power 2021 North American Satisfaction Study and topped the list of domestic airlines for customer service at the 2021 Elliot Readers' Choice Customer Service Awards.

International destinations served by the company include Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Hawaii. With a leisure-focused low-cost business model, the company serves 121 destinations in 42 states with over 700 narrow-bodied Boeing aircraft. is the largest domestic carrier in the United States in terms of the number of domestic originating passengers boarded. The BusinessДЇounded in 1967, Southwest Airlines Co. In light of this lackluster performance, we believe the investment thesis should be revisited today to identify whether Southwest is still undervalued, or whether cracks have appeared in the company's story. Despite many promising developments ever since our investment in the company, LUV stock has failed to take off due to a combination of macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges. ( NYSE: LUV) early last year, which is why we added Southwest stock to our model value portfolio more than a year ago. BanksPhotos/iStock Unreleased via Getty ImagesДЄt Leads From Gurus, we saw value in Southwest Airlines Co.

Southwest airlines competitors