Southwest Airlines To Recall Over 2,700 Cabin Crew Back To Work

As carriers across America gear up for a busy summer, Southwest Airlines is set to bring almost 3,000 flight attendants back to work. This news comes in the wake of more than 200 pilots returning to the cockpit last week, and Southwest numbers increasing to almost 3,000 daily flights. The cabin crew and pilots are set to resume work by next month.

Southwest had initially offered extended leave programs, and over 12,000 flight attendants benefited from it. As part of the leave program, employees got to keep their health insurance, while still being paid 50% of their salaries.

A representative of Southwest Airlines said,

“To support the upcoming summer schedule, Southwest intends to recall all flight attendants participating in the airline’s voluntary extended time-off program.”

Southwest also explained that the cabin crew and pilots would have to meet all requalification training requirements before getting back to work. The carrier further said that “the flight attendant recalls, as with pilot recalls, are to position Southwest for the planned flight increases in the summer schedule, which are based upon the improvements in leisure travel demand that the airline recently reported.”

The American carrier is slowly building its travel numbers over the last couple of weeks. However, some flight attendants and over 800 pilots remain on voluntary leave. While business travel numbers remain pretty much at a low level, Southwest had said that the rate of leisure travels in March and April exceed their previous speculations.

“March and April 2021 operating revenues are currently expected to improve compared with Southwest’s previous estimations, primarily due to an increase in passenger and fare expectations,” Southwest said, adding that, “Southwest has recently experienced an increase in bookings further out in the booking curve, but currently has limited visibility to bookings beyond May 2021.”