DALLAS, April 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) (the "Company") today reported its first quarter 2023 financial results:

• Net loss of $159 million, or $0.27 loss per diluted share
• Net loss, excluding special items¹, of $163 million, or $0.27 loss per diluted share
• Record first quarter operating revenues of $5.7 billion
• Liquidity² of $12.7 billion, well in excess of debt outstanding of $8.0 billion

Bob Jordan, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "As expected, we incurred a first quarter 2023 net loss that resulted from the negative financial impact of approximately $380 million pre-tax, or $294 million after-tax, related to the December 2022 operational disruption. The majority of this impact was driven by a negative revenue impact of approximately $325 million, as a result of cancellations of holiday return travel and a deceleration in bookings for January and February 2023 travel. Despite that, travel demand and revenue trends in March 2023 were strong and resulted in solid profitability for the month and record first quarter revenues.

"Our operational performance was also strong in first quarter 2023. Southwest ranked number two in domestic ontime performance year-to-date through March 2023³, as our People successfully navigated nine named storms. During first quarter 2023, we completed our reviews of the December 2022 operational disruption and released the report summary and action plan publicly at www.southwest.com/travel-disruption-action-plan. We expect to meet our goals to complete the action plan by winter 2023. We continue to make operational investments and remain intensely focused on running a safe, reliable, and efficient operation while delivering our legendary Customer Service.

"We recently reached a tentative agreement with the Transport Workers Union Local 550 (TWU 550), representing our Meteorologists, and I commend the spirit of cooperation by both Negotiating Committees. Currently, this brings us to contract ratification or tentative agreement with six workgroups represented by collective bargaining agreements in the past six months. We are glad we can reward our People, and we remain focused on negotiations of the three remaining open contracts.

"While we are mindful of the uncertain economic environment, demand for domestic air travel remains strong, thus far. Our goal remains to manage inflationary cost increases and maintain our competitive cost advantage. Due to recent delivery delays at The Boeing Company (Boeing), we are further reducing planned 2023 aircraft deliveries to 70 from 90, resulting in an approximate one-point decrease in year-over-year planned 2023 capacity. Based on current revenue trends and our cost outlook, which includes market wage rate accruals for all open labor contracts, we expect solid profits in second quarter 2023 and continue to expect solid profits and year-over-year growth in both margins and return on invested capital for full year 2023. We also continue to expect our network to be roughly restored to pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year. We remain confident in our low-cost, low-fare business model and our long-term strategy, which is supported by a robust set of strategic initiatives designed to drive significant financial value. I am very grateful for the tremendous efforts of our Employees and their unwavering focus on delivering Reliability and Hospitality to our valued Customers." 

Guidance and Outlook:

The following tables introduce or update selected financial guidance for second quarter and full year 2023, as applicable:

Revenue Results and Outlook:

• Record first quarter 2023 operating revenues of $5.7 billion, a 21.6 percent increase, year-over-year—in line with the Company's previous guidance
• First quarter 2023 RASM increased 9.8 percent, year-over-year, driven primarily by a passenger yield increase of 10.6 percent, coupled with a load factor increase of 0.6 points
• March 2023 managed business revenues nearly restored to March 2019 levels

Despite a negative revenue impact of approximately $325 million—associated with the December 2022 operational disruption—the Company's first quarter 2023 revenue performance was strong. The negative revenue impact was primarily isolated to January and February 2023, with March 2023 experiencing a robust recovery, driven by strong yields and notable strength in Rapid Rewards® redemptions. March 2023 managed business revenues improved significantly compared with January and February 2023 and were nearly restored to March 2019 levels. The Company is pleased with its managed business revenue recovery thus far, due to investments in Southwest Business and expansion into Global Distribution Systems aimed at continuing to grow the Company's presence in the corporate travel space.

The current booking curve appears to have returned close to pre-pandemic norms, and leisure demand and yields continue to be strong heading into the busy summer travel season. While March 2023 managed business revenues largely recovered to March 2019 levels, the Company expects corporate revenue trends to continue to be choppy as Customer travel patterns evolve post-pandemic. However, the Company continues to expect further sequential recovery in managed business revenues in second quarter 2023 compared with first quarter 2023, driven by anticipated growth in corporate accounts and passengers.

The Company's second quarter 2023 RASM guidance includes a headwind of approximately four and a half points, year-over-year. This headwind is driven by approximately $300 million of additional breakage revenue in second quarter 2022—a higher-than-normal amount related to flight credits issued during the pandemic that were set to expire unused—and the Company's July 2022 policy change to eliminate expiration dates on qualifying flight credits⁶, which resulted in the percentage of breakage revenue normalizing to historical levels beginning in third quarter 2022. Flight credits that never expire⁶, along with Rapid Rewards points that never expire⁷, are industry-leading, Customer-friendly policies.

The Company recently selected the Amadeus Network Revenue Management product as its new revenue management system provider—slightly ahead of the mid-2023 implementation timing outlined at the Company's 2022 Investor Day. The Company was pleased with initial observations during the production pilot and is excited about the potential for incremental revenue, driven primarily by improved science in forecasting and network optimization. The Amadeus product is now fully implemented and is currently managing all bookings and departure dates.

Fuel Costs and Outlook:

• First quarter 2023 fuel costs were $3.19 per gallon¹—near the high end of the Company's previous guidance range—and included $0.06 per gallon in premium expense and $0.12 per gallon in favorable cash settlements from fuel derivative contracts
• First quarter 2023 fuel efficiency was roughly flat, year-over-year
• As of April 19, 2023, the fair market value of the Company's fuel derivative contracts settling in second quarter 2023 through the end of 2025 was an asset of $418 million

The Company's multi-year fuel hedging program continues to provide insurance against spikes in energy prices and significantly offset the market price increase, year-over-year, in jet fuel in first quarter 2023. The Company's current fuel derivative contracts contain a combination of instruments based in West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil, and refined products, such as heating oil. The economic fuel price per gallon sensitivities⁴ provided in the table below assume the relationship between Brent crude oil and refined products based on market prices as of April 19, 2023.

In addition, the Company is providing its maximum percentage of estimated fuel consumption⁸ covered by fuel derivative contracts in the following table: 

Non-Fuel Costs and Outlook:

• First quarter 2023 operating expenses of $6.0 billion increased 23.6 percent, year-over-year
• First quarter 2023 operating expenses, excluding fuel and oil expense, special items, and profitsharing, increased 17.3 percent, year-over-year
• First quarter 2023 CASM-X increased 5.9 percent, year-over-year—in line with the Company's previous guidance

The majority of the Company's first quarter 2023 CASM-X increase, year-over-year, was attributable to continued inflationary cost pressures, in particular with higher labor rates, including market wage rate accruals, for all Employee work groups, increased technology spending, and higher rates for airport and benefits costs. The remainder of the increase was driven primarily by operational disruption-related expenses, including travel expense reimbursements to Customers and an increase in the expected redemption rate of Rapid Rewards points offered as a gesture of goodwill to Customers.

The Company expects second quarter 2023 CASM-X to increase in the range of 5 percent to 8 percent, year-over-year. In addition to general inflationary cost pressures, the year-over-year increase is primarily due to higher labor rates, including market wage rate accruals, for all Employee work groups, as well as the timing of planned maintenance expenses for the Company's Boeing 737-800 (-800) fleet.

The Company currently expects its full year 2023 CASM-X to decrease in the range of 2 percent to 4 percent, year-over-year—approximately one and one-half points higher than its previous guidance to decrease in the range of 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent, year-over-year. Approximately one point of the increase versus previous guidance is due to lower available seat miles in 2023, attributable to fewer planned aircraft deliveries in light of recent delays from Boeing. The remainder of the increase is primarily due to the timing of planned maintenance expenses for the Company's -800 fleet.

First quarter 2023 net interest expense, which is included in Other expenses, decreased $146 million, year-over-year. The decrease was primarily due to a $122 million increase in interest income driven primarily by higher interest rates, coupled with a $27 million decrease in interest expense driven primarily by various debt repurchases and repayments throughout 2022.

Capacity, Fleet, and Capital Spending:

The Company's first quarter 2023 capacity increased 10.7 percent, year-over-year, which was higher than its previous guidance of up approximately 10 percent, due to a higher than expected March completion factor. During first quarter 2023, the Company received 30 -8 aircraft, as expected, and retired seven -700 aircraft, compared with its previous guidance of five -700 retirements, shifting forward two -700 aircraft retirements from the second half of 2023. The Company ended first quarter 2023 with 793 aircraft.

Based on anticipated aircraft delivery delays from Boeing, the Company now expects it will receive approximately 70 -8 aircraft deliveries in 2023, compared with its previous guidance of approximately 90 -8 deliveries. As such, the Company is planning on flight reductions in second half 2023, most notably in fourth quarter, and now expects its 2023 capacity to increase approximately 14 percent to 15 percent, year-over-year, roughly one point lower than the Company's previous guidance.

The Company's planned deliveries continue to differ from its order book displayed in the table below. In addition, the Company now expects to retire 26 -700 aircraft in 2023, compared with its previous guidance of 27 -700 retirements, due to shifting one -700 retirement into 2024. As a result of the revision in aircraft deliveries and retirements, the Company now expects to end the year with 814 aircraft, compared with its previous guidance of 833 aircraft.

The Company's first quarter 2023 capital expenditures were $1.0 billion, driven primarily by aircraft-related capital spending, as well as technology, facilities, and operational investments. Due to the recent changes to expected 2023 aircraft deliveries, the Company now estimates its 2023 capital spending to be approximately $3.5 billion, compared with its previous guidance of approximately $4.0 billion. This assumes approximately $2.3 billion in aircraft capital spending, compared with its previous guidance of approximately $2.8 billion, and continues to assume approximately $1.2 billion in non-aircraft capital spending, which includes tens of millions in operational disruption-related investments.

Since the Company's previous disclosure on January 26, 2023, the Company exercised five -7 options for delivery in 2024 and converted 11 2024 -7 firm orders to -8 firm orders. In addition, in April 2023, the Company exercised 11 -7 options for delivery in 2024 and converted eight 2024 -7 firm orders to -8 firm orders. The following tables provide further information regarding the Company's order book and compare its order book as of April 27, 2023, with its previous order book as of January 26, 2023. For purposes of the delivery schedule below, the Company continues to include the remaining 46 of its 2022 contractual undelivered aircraft (14 -7s and 32 -8s) within its 2023 commitments. Given Boeing's current supply chain and aircraft delivery delays, the Company will continue working with Boeing to solidify future delivery dates. 

Liquidity and Capital Deployment:

• The Company ended first quarter 2023 with $11.7 billion in cash and short-term investments and a fully available revolving credit line of $1.0 billion
• The Company had a net cash position⁹ of $3.6 billion as of March 31, 2023, and it remains the only U.S. airline with an investment-grade rating by all three rating agencies
• The Company returned $214 million to its Shareholders through the payment of dividends during first quarter 2023
• The Company paid $59 million during first quarter 2023 to retire debt and finance lease obligations, including the retirement of $50 million in principal related to a lease buyout transaction and $9 million in scheduled lease payments

Awards and Recognitions:

• Named to FORTUNE's list of World's Most Admired® Companies; ranked #23 overall and #3 on the airline industry list
• Named the #2 domestic airline by the 2023 Elliot Readers' Choice Awards
• Named to Glassdoor's Best Places to Work list for the 14th consecutive year
• Recognized by Newsweek as one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity 2023
• Recognized by Newsweek as one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Women
• Designated a 2023 Military Friendly Company by Viqtory
• Recognized by Newsweek as one of America's Most Responsible Companies
• Designated one of the 25 Best Companies for Latinos to Work 2023 by Latino Leaders Magazine
• Named Domestic Carrier of the Year by the Airforwarders Association

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG):

• Published a Supplier Code of Conduct and began integrating sustainability questions in the Company's request for proposal process with its suppliers
• Purchased offsets equivalent to the carbon emissions generated by the Company's Employee business¹⁰ and charitable¹¹ travel for 2022
• Became the launch customer with SMBC Aviation Capital to purchase over 400,000 carbon credits from their portfolio of projects. The agreement is expected to result in Southwest acquiring carbon credits certified by either Gold Standard or Verra over a five-year timeframe from SMBC Aviation Capital's funded projects in Africa and Central America
• Highlighted National Human Trafficking Prevention Month in January 2023 to educate Employees and Customers on ways to help combat this issue. Southwest is proud to support multiple nonprofit organizations whose efforts help with the rescue, recovery, and restoration of human trafficking survivors
• Celebrated Black History Month and Women's History Month throughout February and March 2023, respectively. Southwest shared internally and externally ways its Employees and Customers could Celebrate with Service by supporting different organizations through donations or volunteerism
• Launched Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for Southwest Employees. ERGs are formed through the efforts of Employees and are organized around a significant and specific dimension of diversity or identity. Southwest will align its initial ERGs with the seven Cultural, Heritage, and Pride months Southwest recognizes
• Launched applications for the Southwest Scholarship Program, which includes two scholarship opportunities. The Southwest Airlines Scholarship seeks to build a diverse talent pipeline, while inspiring future generations to find careers within the airline industry. The Herbert D. Kelleher and Rollin W. King Scholarship was established for eligible dependents of Southwest Airlines Employees to pursue higher education
• Launched applications for the ¡Lánzate!/Take Off! Travel Award Program which helps college students stay connected to their families while pursuing higher education by providing travel grants
• Announced Auburn University as a university partner in the airline's First Officer development and recruitment program: Destination 225°
• Visit southwest.com/citizenship for more details about the Company's ongoing ESG efforts 

Conference Call:

The Company will discuss its first quarter 2023 results on a conference call at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time today. To listen to a live broadcast of the conference call, please go to 
https://www.southwestairlinesinvestorrelations.com.

Footnotes

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Specific forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements related to (i) the Company's expectations with respect to the completion of its action plan in response to the December 2022 operational disruption, including with respect to timing of completion and associated expenditures; (ii) the Company's financial and operational outlook, expectations, goals, plans, and projected results of operations, including factors and assumptions underlying the Company's expectations and projections; (iii) the Company's fleet plans and expectations, include with respect to expected fleet deliveries and retirements and including factors and assumptions underlying the Company's plans and expectations; (iv) the Company's capacity and network plans and expectations, including with respect to adjustments and restoring its network, and including factors and assumptions underlying the Company's expectations and projections; (v) the Company's labor plans and expectations; (vi) the Company's expectations with respect to fuel costs, hedging gains, and fuel efficiency, and the Company's related management of risks associated with changing jet fuel prices, including factors underlying the Company's expectations; (vii) the Company's plans, estimates, and assumptions related to repayment of debt obligations, interest expense, effective tax rate, and capital spending, including factors and assumptions underlying the Company's expectations and projections; (viii) the Company's expectations regarding passenger demand, revenue trends, and bookings, including with respect to managed business revenues and the potential benefits of its new revenue management system. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current estimates, intentions, beliefs, expectations, goals, strategies, and projections for the future and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that are difficult to predict and that could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by them. Factors include, among others, (i) the Company's ability to timely and effectively implement, transition, and maintain the necessary information technology systems and infrastructure to support its operations and initiatives; (ii) the Company's ability to obtain and maintain adequate infrastructure and equipment to support its operations and initiatives; (iii) the impact of fears or actual outbreaks of diseases, extreme or severe weather and natural disasters, actions of competitors (including, without limitation, pricing, scheduling, capacity, and network decisions, and consolidation and alliance activities), consumer perception, economic conditions, banking conditions, fears of terrorism or war, sociodemographic trends, and other factors beyond the Company's control, on consumer behavior and the Company's results of operations and business decisions, plans, strategies, and results; (iv) the Company's dependence on its workforce, including its ability to employ sufficient numbers of qualified Employees to effectively and efficiently maintain its operations; (v) the emergence of additional costs or effects associated with the cancelled flights, including litigation, government investigation and actions, and internal actions; (vi) the impact of fuel price changes, fuel price volatility, volatility of commodities used by the Company for hedging jet fuel, and any changes to the Company's fuel hedging strategies and positions, on the Company's business plans and results of operations; (vii) the Company's dependence on Boeing and Boeing suppliers with respect to the Company's aircraft deliveries, fleet and capacity plans, operations, strategies, and goals; (viii) the Company's dependence on Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration with respect to the certification of the Boeing MAX 7 aircraft; (ix) the Company's dependence on other third parties, in particular with respect to its technology plans, its tactical action plans and expectations related to operational resiliency, fuel supply, Global Distribution Systems, and the impact on the Company's operations and results of operations of any third party delays or non-performance; (x) the Company's ability to timely and effectively prioritize its initiatives and focus areas and related expenditures; (xi) the impact of labor matters on the Company's business decisions, plans, strategies, and results; (xii) any negative developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including, for example, with respect to the duration, spread, severity, or any recurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic or any new variant strains of the underlying virus; the effectiveness, availability, and usage of COVID-19 vaccines; the impact of government mandates, directives, orders, regulations, and other governmental actions related to COVID-19 on the Company's business plans and its ability to retain key Employees; the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on overall demand for air travel and the Company's related business plans and decisions; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's access to capital; (xiii) the impact of governmental regulations and other governmental actions on the Company's business plans, results, and operations; and (xiv) other factors, as described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the detailed factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10- K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.

NOTE REGARDING USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
The Company's unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP"). These GAAP financial statements may include (i) unrealized noncash adjustments and reclassifications, which can be significant, as a result of accounting requirements and elections made under accounting pronouncements relating to derivative instruments and hedging and (ii) other charges and benefits the Company believes are unusual and/or infrequent in nature and thus may make comparisons to its prior or future performance difficult.

As a result, the Company also provides financial information in this release that was not prepared in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to the information prepared in accordance with GAAP. The Company provides supplemental non-GAAP financial information (also referred to as "excluding special items"), including results that it refers to as "economic," which the Company's management utilizes to evaluate its ongoing financial performance and the Company believes provides additional insight to investors as supplemental information to its GAAP results. The non-GAAP measures provided that relate to the Company's performance on an economic fuel cost basis include Fuel and oil expense, non-GAAP; Total operating expenses, non-GAAP; Operating expenses, non-GAAP excluding Fuel and oil expense; Operating expenses, non-GAAP excluding Fuel and oil expense and profitsharing; Operating loss, non-GAAP; Other (gains) losses, net, non-GAAP; Loss before income taxes, non-GAAP; Benefit for income taxes, net, non-GAAP; Net loss, non-GAAP; Net loss per share, diluted, non-GAAP; and Operating expenses per ASM, non-GAAP, excluding Fuel and oil expense and profitsharing (cents). The Company's economic Fuel and oil expense results differ from GAAP results in that they only include the actual cash settlements from fuel hedge contracts - all reflected within Fuel and oil expense in the period of settlement. Thus, Fuel and oil expense on an economic basis has historically been utilized by the Company, as well as some of the other airlines that utilize fuel hedging, as it reflects the Company's actual net cash outlays for fuel during the applicable period, inclusive of settled fuel derivative contracts. Any net premium costs paid related to option contracts that are designated as hedges are reflected as a component of Fuel and oil expense, for both GAAP and non-GAAP (including economic) purposes in the period of contract settlement. The Company believes these economic results provide further insight into the impact of the Company's fuel hedges on its operating performance and liquidity since they exclude any unrealized, noncash adjustments and reclassifications that are recorded in GAAP results in accordance with accounting guidance relating to derivative instruments, and they reflect all cash settlements related to fuel derivative contracts within Fuel and oil expense. This enables the Company's management, as well as investors and analysts, to consistently assess the Company's operating performance on a year-over-year or quarter-over-quarter basis after considering all efforts in place to manage fuel expense. However, because these measures are not determined in accordance with GAAP, such measures are susceptible to varying calculations, and not all companies calculate the measures in the same manner. As a result, the aforementioned measures, as presented, may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies.

Further information on (i) the Company's fuel hedging program, (ii) the requirements of accounting for derivative instruments, and (iii) the causes of hedge ineffectiveness and/or mark-to-market gains or losses from derivative instruments is included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.

The Company's GAAP results in the applicable periods may include other charges or benefits that are also deemed "special items," that the Company believes make its results difficult to compare to prior periods, anticipated future periods, or industry trends. Financial measures identified as non-GAAP (or as excluding special items) have been adjusted to exclude special items. For the periods presented, in addition to the items discussed above, special items include:

1. Noncash impairment charges, primarily associated with adjustments to the salvage values for previously retired airframes;
2. Unrealized mark-to-market adjustment associated with certain available for sale securities; and
3. Losses associated with the partial extinguishment of the Company's convertible notes and early prepayment of debt. These losses are also now presented as a separate line item, rather than its prior presentation where it was included as a component of Other (gains) losses, net. Such losses are incurred as a result of opportunistic decisions made by the Company to prepay portions of its debt, most of which was taken on during the pandemic in order to provide liquidity during the prolonged downturn in air travel.

Because management believes special items can distort the trends associated with the Company's ongoing performance as an airline, the Company believes that evaluation of its financial performance can be enhanced by a supplemental presentation of results that exclude the impact of special items in order to enhance consistency and comparativeness with results in prior periods that do not include such items and as a basis for evaluating operating results in future periods. The following measures are often provided, excluding special items, and utilized by the Company's management, analysts, and investors to enhance comparability of year-over-year results, as well as to industry trends: Fuel and oil expense, non-GAAP; Total operating expenses, non-GAAP; Operating expenses, non-GAAP excluding Fuel and oil expense; Operating expenses, non-GAAP excluding Fuel and oil expense and profitsharing; Operating loss, non-GAAP; Other (gains) losses, net, non-GAAP; Loss before income taxes, non-GAAP; Benefit for income taxes, net, non-GAAP; Net loss, non-GAAP; Net loss per share, diluted, non-GAAP; and Operating expenses per ASM, non-GAAP, excluding Fuel and oil expense and profitsharing (cents).

SW-QFS

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SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.