May is going better than Southwest had projected

Southwest Airlines expects its load factor for May to be between 25% and 30%.

Such a figure, while still extremely low by historical standards, would be well above the carrier’s previous estimate for May and more than triple the 8% of seats that were occupied on Southwest flights in April.

The new estimate, put forward by Southwest in a regulatory filing Tuesday, compares with the company’s forecast of just a 5% to 10% May load factor at the time of its April 28 earnings call. Southwest continues to expect capacity to be down 60% to 70% in May, just as it did at the time of the April call. Southwest estimates it will fly with 35% to 40% of its seats filled in June.

American Airlines is similarly reporting a 35% load factor in May so far, following 15% in April.

Southwest’s report of sharply improving load factors this month coincides with controversy about crowding on some flights. The conflict is being fueled by social media images of mostly full planes.

Last week, Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-Ore.), chair of the House transportation committee, called for airlines to leave at least one empty seat between passengers. On Monday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the top ranking Democrat on the Senate commerce committee, sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, calling for federal guidelines that would block middle seats or limit capacity on aircraft to allow for social distancing.

Southwest is among the airlines that have announced policies to limit flight loads. The carrier says it is blocking about one-third of its seats but hasn’t been more specific. Delta has capped flights at 60% capacity. Frontier is blocking 20 middle seats per flight.

United, meanwhile, says it is notifying passengers 24 hours ahead of time when their flight is going to be crowded. The carrier had previously stated that it was blocking middle seats but has backed away from that. United now says that it has adjusted its seat-selection system to avoid seating separate parties next to each other “where possible.”

American too says it is restricting access to some seats “when possible.”

Source: travelweekly.com