<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

9 moments that defined the COVID-19 pandemic for American and Southwest airlines

By Kyle Arnold, The Dallas Morning News
Published: January 3, 2021, 6:00am

DALLAS — It’s hard to pick the worst day of 2020 for the airline industry.

For Southwest Airlines pilot Jon Weaks, head of the Dallas-based carrier’s pilots union, it was just before St. Patrick’s Day, when rumors spread that the entire aviation industry would be grounded in an attempt to combat the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the globe like a wildfire on a dry, windy day.

“When you look at 9/11, we lost 3,000 people that day and it devastated the industry,” Weaks said. “Now we are losing almost that many people a day to the coronavirus. I didn’t realize it would be such a visceral gut punch.”

From the early days of the pandemic to the fight for survival, here’s a look back at some of this year’s toughest days for the airline industry:

January 24

Following confirmation that an American woman in Chicago was the first confirmed positive COVID-19 case, American Airlines pilots and flight attendants started calling for the Fort Worth-based carrier to shut down flights to China, allow face masks and take other measures to halt the spread of the emerging disease that was evolving from a regional illness to a global outbreak.

“We’re going to watch it and make sure that we take aggressive action if there is a need to,” American Airlines President Robert Isom said.

Within days, American and other airlines were canceling flights to China as demand evaporated to the world’s most populous nation. Then flights to other parts of Asia were dropped. Still, it would be nearly two months before government leaders and airline chiefs grasped the implications of the emerging coronavirus disease.

March 12

By early March, American and Southwest Airlines started to see waves of ticket cancellations from customers skeptical about flying abroad or to crowded cities in the United States.

On March 12, fear became reality when President Donald Trump enacted sweeping travel restrictions on travelers into the United States.

International travelers arrived at Terminal D at DFW International Airport on March 12, 2020. Travel from Europe has been restricted due to the spread of coronavirus.

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly went on CNBC and said the airline needed to persevere through a few tough weeks. State and local governments enacted shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders.

Airlines started taking loans for billions of dollars to brace themselves for a rough month of March and maybe even into April. It was just the beginning of financial losses that still have no end in sight as 2020 closes.

Congress granted airlines $25 billion in payroll relief to cover employee costs through September.

April 14

On April 14, only 87,534 passengers went through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints in U.S. airports, the fewest number of travelers since the 1950s. Passenger volume that day was down more than 96% from a year before.

“You realize how fragile this industry is,” said Will Berchelmann, director of air service development with Dallas-based Volaire Aviation Consulting. “One day it was in its best position ever and then the next day was doomsday.”

Pilots and flight attendants reported flying on planes with fewer than a dozen passengers.

This was the low point for U.S. aviation traffic during the pandemic, but even now, airline consultants and executives don’t know when passenger demand will recover to 2019 levels.

May 11

With customers terrified about the close confines of commercial air travel, American and Southwest Airlines joined competitors in requiring face masks and coverings to get on board a plane.

The mandate became part of a national debate over face masks, who had to wear them and what the masks represented to travelers and Americans.

May 19

U.S. airlines reported $5.2 billion in losses in the first quarter and executives were realizing that the COVID-19 pandemic showed no signs of just going away.

After freezing hiring in March and putting off spending, American Airlines told employees that it would need to “right-size” the company, a term not heard in the industry since the long-forgotten days of bankruptcy and recession.

Airline leaders started offering voluntary leave and buyouts, hoping enough workers would take time off to get them through summer and into autumn when they thought passengers would start to come back to flying.

On June 1, Southwest followed suit with the “most generous buyout package in our history.”

July 15

People tired of social distancing got back on airplanes over Memorial Day weekend and people across the country celebrated the end of school and the beginning of summer by traveling. Unfortunately, that led to another spike in COVID-19 cases in Texas and across the country.

Passenger traffic stalled in June. By the end of July, airlines were talking about layoffs. On July 15, American Airlines sent 25,000 layoff and furlough notices to employees, noting that it would cut its 5,000-employee administrative staff by a third.

That same day, Southwest’s Kelly said sales and passenger numbers would need to triple by year-end to avoid layoffs.

September 9

Late summer saw its ups and downs for airlines, but the trend didn’t change. Passengers weren’t coming back. COVID-19 cases were increasing nationwide. Lawmakers fought over a stimulus package ahead of a divisive presidential election in November.

In the meantime, airline leaders realized that hopes for a fall recovery were foolhardy.

“If things don’t improve, this just can’t continue,” Southwest’s Kelly told The Dallas Morning News in early September. “We can’t lose the kind of cash we lost in the second quarter, for quarter upon quarter upon quarter. We’d be out of business.”

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly boarded a plane at Houston Hobby Airport in June to visit employees.

Kelly and his counterpart at American Airlines, Doug Parker, turned to lawmakers for more aid with passengers not returning yet.

October 1

Flight attendant Allie Malis was one of 17,500 American Airlines employees furloughed on Oct. 1 after restrictions on the government’s aid to airlines ran out. Malis, 30 and based out of Washington, D.C., focused her efforts on her union with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants to get a new stimulus package from Congress.

After a few months, Malis’ furlough pay ran out and she was forced onto unemployment.

“It was hard to know when we were grounded whether it was going to be a reliable career anymore,” she said.

Southwest didn’t furlough employees in 2020, but told workers that they would need to take a 10% pay cut in 2021 for all union workers to keep their jobs.

Weaks, who is exiting as Southwest’s pilots union president at the end of 2020, said the wage cut request created a chasm between union members and management.

“We’re never going to forget what they put the employees through,” said Weaks, whose members received furlough notices as the Christmas holiday approached.

December 21

Congress passed a $900 billion economic stimulus package days before Christmas that included about $15 billion to cover airline employee payrolls between Dec. 1 and March 31, 2021.

American Airlines got to work getting paychecks ready for Christmas Eve distribution and mailed recall letters to furloughed employees.

There was some uncertainty about whether Trump would reject the package, but he ultimately signed it on Dec. 27. A day later, Southwest Airlines said it doesn’t currently expect to furlough workers or cut pay in 2021 because of the federal help.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were the best travel periods of the year for airlines, with a pandemic-high 1.28 million people passing through TSA checkpoints on Dec. 27. But passenger totals were still down nearly 60% from a year before and airlines continue losing millions of dollars every day.

“I know the battle isn’t over, but we’re resilient, and we’re well prepared to fight so that Southwest emerges stronger than ever, ready to thrive for the next 50 years,” Kelly said in a letter to employees. “And each of you will have played an important part in Southwest’s finest hour.”

Loading...