"Southwest to shift flights to Philadelphia"

Monday, August 23, 2004

Southwest to shift flights to Philadelphia 
The Associated Press


Southwest Airlines Inc. plans to cut 88 flights in October and shift planes
to more profitable routes, mostly in and out of Philadelphia, officials said
Monday. 

The low-cost carrier said Monday it hopes the changes will increase revenue
by $60 million. 

"It's just taking the planes and redeploying them. The capacity remains the
same," said Ed Stewart, a Southwest spokesman. "We should see increased
revenue by putting planes in places where lots of people want to fly." 

Stewart said the Oct. 31 schedule changes will result in 41 daily flights at
Philadelphia, where Southwest began service in May. The Dallas-based carrier
said Philadelphia has been its most successful opening ever. 

The changes will affect about 3 percent of Southwest's schedule of 2,800
daily flights. 

Southwest said it would reduce some round-trip flights between Kansas City
and Chicago, Dallas and Tulsa, Houston and New Orleans, and many
less-frequent routes. 

For example, the company will cut daily departures at Dallas from 130 to 123
daily and reduce Kansas City flights from 70 to 61 each day. Among
less-traveled routes, Southwest plans to trim Albuquerque-El Paso flights
from four to three daily. 

Besides Philadelphia, other routes getting additional flights include
Houston-Orlando, Fla.; Chicago-Tampa, Fla.; and Baltimore-Nashville, Tenn. 

The changes were first reported by The Wall Street Journal. 

Southwest has been hurt by rising costs for jet fuel and labor and saw
second-quarter profits slide 54 percent. 

The airline has partly insulated itself against fuel increase by buying
about 80 percent of its supply under long-term deals with guaranteed lower
prices, but still paid 21.5 percent more for fuel in the April-June period
than it did a year earlier. 

On the labor side, the company reached a deal last month that gave flight
attendants average pay raises of 31 percent over six years. 

Gary Kelly, who replaced James Parker as chief executive last month, said in
a recent interview that Southwest was "pushing the boundary of what we can
afford with our wages." 

Southwest has said that earnings in the July-September quarter will beat
last year's profit of $106 million. Kelly said bookings for July and August
were strong. 

Shares of Southwest fell 10 cents to close at $14.60 Monday on the New York
Stock Exchange. 

On the Net: www.southwest.com 


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