Southwest Airlines today announced its 2021 fourth-quarter earnings, riding holiday bookings to a $68 million profit.
Revenue more than doubled in the quarter compared to Q4 in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, from $2.01 billion to $5.05 billion, leading the carrier to its first profit without the benefit of government aid, according to CNBC.
With nearly 5,000 employees who have called out sick because of the Omicron variant, and fewer people traveling as 2022 begins, the airline expects the first quarter of this year to result in a loss but is optimistic about the rest of the year.
"While we made significant progress in 2021, the Omicron variant has delayed the demand improvement we were previously expecting in early 2022," Bob Jordan, Southwest's executive vice president who becomes CEO on Tuesday, February 1, said in a statement. "With COVID-19 cases trending downward, the worst appears to be behind us, and we are optimistic about current bookings and revenue trends for March 2022."
Southwest, along with every other U.S.-based carrier, suffered a nearly three-week setback of more than 20,000 flights being canceled and nearly 50,000 delayed, in large part due to staffing shortages.
But current longtime CEO Gary Kelly, with just days to go in his tenure, later appeared live on CNBC following the earnings announcement and said the airline is poised to make a profit in 2022 despite what they expect to be a loss for these first three months of the year.
"We'll have a soft January and February but March bookings look strong right now," Kelly said. "We're looking forward to a profitable 2022."
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