The airline's decision to decrease nonstop routes and flight frequency, frequently requiring passengers to make a connection they could have avoided, has been one of the major sources of annoyance for frequent Southwest travelers over the past two years.
According to Southwest management, the issue from the coronavirus pandemic should be resolved by the end of the next year.
By the end of 2023, the airline hopes to have fully recovered 90% of its pre-pandemic network.
It's misleading to call Southwest Airlines that.
In the 51 years since it was established in Dallas, the airline has expanded its route network to include much of Mexico and Central America in addition to the United States, with service and focus cities all along the East Coast, in the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest, and even down to Hawaii.
That route map expanded to more locations than ever in 2021, adding 18 additional markets to its network—a unique expansion tale as the airline industry struggled to recover from the harshest effects of the pandemic slowdown.
With fewer nonstop flights and frequencies on more established routes and markets as a result of that expansion, it was left overstretched.
According to information released in November, the airline intended to utilize 2022 to concentrate on adding depth and density to its network.
Restoring the network we had prior to the pandemic is the top priority for the upcoming year and the year following, according to Andrew Watterson, the chief commercial officer at the time.
"Especially on our business-type routes because those have less frequency than they did before," she added.
Southwest was careful in sharing the specifics of its intentions, refusing to provide information or a date for the routes or frequencies that will be restored because of the unpredictable strength and inconsistent nature of travel demand from the second half of last year.
Southwest claims that things are going according to plan after a year.
As a result, the carrier was open to providing an estimated time frame for the completion of its entire restoration.
Naturally, Watterson, who is now the airline's chief operational officer, noted during a media conference last week, "restore" isn't quite the appropriate word with those 18 additional cities.
"We use words like 'restore,' which sounds like we're trying to get back to where we were, but also, when we finish restoring, it'll be an entirely different network than it was pre-COVID," said the researcher.
During the worst of the pandemic, it is noteworthy that Southwest did not remove any cities from its network.
Instead, the airline stopped offering point-to-point service when demand decreased in 2020, followed by the addition of new cities by Southwest in 2021.
In certain circumstances, it can reinstate a nonstop flight only to cancel it later and divert resources to busier routes.
This had the effect of forcing many Southwest passengers to connect in one of the airline's larger cities rather than on a nonstop flight, which was contrary to Southwest's marketing strategy.
Vice President of Network Planning Adam Decaire stated, "We are a point-to-point carrier."
"When they travel Southwest Airlines, 77% of our passengers don't need to connect.
That's a major asset for us.
However, repairing the network doesn't always mean returning it to its previous state because demand has changed as a result of the pandemic's later stages.
Each city will require a distinct approach to full restoration, according to Decaire.
It doesn't imply that they will receive every trip reimbursed.
Some cities may experience new nonstop routes in place of those that existed prior to the pandemic for the sake of network restoration — or "reconstruction," depending on demands.
As an illustration, "Amarillo had nonstop service to Houston before the epidemic, but now they've extended services to Austin and Denver," Decaire said.
Although they are traveling to various locations, they have made their [total number of] journeys back.
Some people could object and say, "I want my Houston flight back," but he said, "we have Denver from Amarillo, you've got additional flying there, and you can get to more of the network."
Additionally, Southwest offers three to four daily flights from Amarillo, Texas, to Dallas Love Field (DAL), enhancing regional connection.
Those who inquire about the particular routes from their home cities that have been canceled may not see them again even when the airline resumes service.
You should still be able to connect to the larger network even if you don't get back on that convenient route because your home airport should still have at least the same number of flights as it did before.
Notably, the timing of the network's full restoration coincides with Southwest's intended schedule for maximizing the efficiency of its certified pilot workforce and fleet.
According to CEO Bob Jordan last week, the airline has a backlog of pilot training, which prevents it from completely staffing its fleet even as it hires and recruits new pilots.
There aren't enough pilots to operate the 40 to 45 aircraft we now have, therefore they can't be flown as part of our [daily flying schedule], according to Jordan.
"As we staff pilots, that will catch the aircraft growth in the back half of next year, perhaps early in the fourth quarter," the company said.
If the airline's pilot growth kept pace with the expansion of its fleet, Jordan continued, it would be able to fly from 6% to 8% more passengers.
While the airline is eager to operate its entire fleet on a given day, Watterson emphasized during the media briefing that the issue isn't even a genuine shortage of trained and current pilots compared to what the airline needs — it's that as Southwest has received new aircraft from Boeing, the training schedule hasn't quite kept up.
In the words of Watterson, "Boeing is delivering aircraft quicker than we are educating the pilots."
Given the number of simulators and instructors on hand, airlines can only train so many pilots at once.
However, Southwest has a recently enlarged simulator facility that management said will enable the airline, according to their predictions, to clear the backlog in 2023.
It will remain that way until the second half of next year, at which point we will be able to employ all of our aircraft since the pilots' growth rates will surpass Boeing's delivery rates.
The airline would be able to finish its restoration plan with this coming just in time.
All things considered, Southwest has a busy year ahead of it — and everywhere else it reaches.
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