: Gunther told me to always fly Southwest Air because it was a
: "Company Airline" and I would always be safe on SWA.
Thursday October 11, 1:49 pm Eastern Time
Southwest to Trim Flight Schedule
Southwest Airlines Is Cutting Some of Its
Flights From Dallas and Other Cities
DALLAS (AP) -- Southwest Airlines Co. is cutting some of its flights from Dallas and other cities, the carrier's first reductions since terrorists crashed four U.S. jetliners on Sept.
11.
Southwest said it would cut capacity in its fleet by less than 1 percent but would eliminate 10 percent or more of its flights from Dallas Love Field to airports in Houston.
Until the announcement, the Dallas-based carrier had resisted cutting its flight schedule after the terrorist attacks. Other carriers cut flight schedules by 20 percent and announced massive layoffs to deal with the sudden, sharp drop in already-depressed air travel.
Dallas-based Southwest said it made the changes to free up planes for new service in Norfolk, Va., which started Sunday.
The carrier has postponed delivery of 11 new Boeing 737s, and it plans to retire three older-model 737s at the end of the year, meaning it is expanding its number of cities served with three fewer planes.
``We didn't want to disappoint the customers that we've already sold seats to, so we looked at our routes where we have a lot of frequency,'' said Ed Stewart, a Southwest spokesman.
Stewart said the changes mean the number of round trips on an average weekday out of Dallas will drop from 33 to 29. The carrier will make its biggest cuts between Dallas and Houston, eliminating 29 flights a week, from 210 to 181.
The cuts will equal 10 percent or more of the flights from Dallas to Houston Hobby, George Bush Houston Intercontinental, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa and Oklahoma City airports. The changes will take effect Oct. 28.
Southwest will keep the same number of flights from Dallas to Austin and San Antonio, Stewart said.
Airline officials have said they didn't intend to cut flight schedules or jobs, but they said plans were subject to change if air travel didn't rebound. After the terrorist attacks, Southwest's planes fell from 67 percent occupancy to 45 percent the rest of September, although traffic increased at the end of the month.
Southwest is also planning small reductions in service at some of its busier airports.
Stewart said the airline's capacity would shrink 0.8 percent by year end. He said Southwest intends to maintain a fleet of 355 planes until it determines whether traffic increases enough to justify expansion.
Shares of Southwest rose 15 cents to $16.13 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
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http://www.southwest.com
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