Southwest Airlines Is Going to Operate Nearly 3,900 Flights During Peak Holiday Travel

The busiest travel season of the year is a wonderful time to fly–not because it’s cold and freezing, but because there are so many people traveling. Don’t let other airlines try to woo your business away with deals this lucrative. Southwest Airlines has partnered with weather and special operations talent in order to forecast its busiest days in order to optimize its performance overall.

Busy holiday season

Airlines were forced to reduce cargo capacity and rapidly rising airport congestion following the pandemic. With no-fly zones, the demand for air transport dramatically decreased. However, the high levels of demand that ensued from recently infectious travelers resulted in average air transit costs going up by 70%. Airlines struggled in 2019 to cope with this big increase, with some airlines cutting back staff and assets for FY19. Overall, airlines were still able to work hard throughout 2018 to improve capacity and airplane reliability, allowing them to operate on a more manageable scale.

As the holiday season approaches, there’s no pandemic travel restrictions. This means a bigger volume of flights are flown and that Southwest has been preparing by flying at 121 airports in 11 different countries and will be operated throughout the Holiday season.

The airline has increased its work force in direct response to the increase in demand of air travel that has resulted from the pandemic, which is expected to continue. These new employees will help the airline deal with rising demands throughout the coming years.

These latest employees will likely be an invaluable asset to the airline throughout the year. The new hires have seen the airline’s staff numbers soar and surpassed the staffing levels of 2019. Southwest has been able to staff its operations despite a growing industry-wide shortage of workers. As they’ve managed to manage their workload, they’ve been able to bring innovation to areas like customer service and travel experience, allowing them to better prepare for what might happen in 2022.

Southwest Airlines wants to innovate in order to continuously deliver the best service for the customer, including increasing the completion rate for flights. This goal isn’t just done through website changes and app design, but also through company-wide efforts and innovation. Since September, Southwest has seen a 99% flight completion rate.