You might also like:
Demand for Southwest flights to Las Vegas has yet to fully recover from the mass shooting at a concert just off the Strip on Oct. 1.
“I quite frankly would be surprised if we were not back to 100% by the end of this quarter or maybe before,” CEO Gary Kelly said during Southwest’s third-quarter earnings call Thursday.
CFO Tammy Romo said that fallout from the shooting, coupled with the wildfires in Northern California, would cost Southwest $10-$15 million over the course of the fourth quarter.
Kelly estimated that the airline’s Las Vegas business would be down 10% to 15% in the fourth quarter.
The picture at Southwest differed from the one described by Delta president Glen Hauenstein during Delta’s earnings call on Oct. 11. The shooting, in which 58 people were massacred, hadn’t reduced demand for Delta flights to Las Vegas, he said at the time.
For the third quarter, Southwest reported net income of $503 million, up from $388 million during the same period last year.
The improvement came on operating revenue of $5.27 billion, up 2.6% year over year but $40 million less than analyst expectations. Southwest said that hurricanes and the earthquake in Mexico City caused the cancellation of 5,000 flights and reduced revenue by approximately $100 million.
Southwest’s operating expenses in the third quarter were $4.43 billion, up just 0.2%. Earnings per share was 88 cents, beating expectations by 1 cent.
Source: travelweekly.com
