Southwest Airlines says omicron will drive a loss in the first quarter, but expects 2022 profit

Southwest Airlines says omicron will drive a loss in the first quarter, but expects 2022 profit

Expects to lose money in the first quarter after the omicron variant of Covid-19 hurt staffing and bookings, but it said profits are on the table by March and for the rest of the year. Southwest's rivals , and earlier this month also said they expect that the fast-spreading variant would further delay a recovery in travel demand but that bookings for spring and summer were strong. "While we made significant progress in 2021, the Omicron variant has delayed the demand improvement we were previously expecting in early 2022," Bob Jordan, Southwest's executive vice president who takes the reins as CEO on Feb. 1, said in an earnings release. "With COVID-19 cases trending downward, the worst appears to be behind us, and we are optimistic about current bookings and revenue trends for March 2022." Carriers had canceled more than 20,000 flights between Christmas Eve and the first week of the year, hit by a combination of bad weather and a lack of available crews as omicron spread through employee ranks and nationwide. Both leisure and business travel bookings are weaker than expected and will likely cut operating revenue in January and February by a total of $330 million, Southwest said