Airlines Rise as Southwest 737 Grounding Impact Less Than Feared
- U.S. discounter’s 34 aircraft are biggest Boeing Max fleet
- Jet’s ban, weather, labor strife to force 9,400 cancellations
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Southwest Airlines Co., the largest operator of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max, led the industry higher after indicating that the impact from the jet’s grounding would be less than what some investors had anticipated.
The ban on Max flights plus soft leisure-travel demand will shave $150 million from first-quarter revenue, Southwest said. In total, the groundings, bad weather and reduced service during labor negotiations will force the cancellation of 9,400 flights from mid-February to the end of the quarter, the airline said in a filing Wednesday. Southwest makes about 4,000 flights daily.