Southwest Airlines suffered a fourth-quarter loss of $200 million because of an operational meltdown in late December. But the Dallas-based company still ended 2022 with a net income, according to the company’s Jan. 26 news release.
Even so, the company projects the first quarter of 2023 will result in a net loss, “based on current revenue and cost trends,” CEO Bob Jordan said in the release.
That release, detailing financial results, was posted just hours before a live webcast was scheduled with investors at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. It also followed the U.S. Department of Transportation’s statement about its investigation of the airline’s “unrealistic scheduling” of flights as a winter storm approached….