Dallas Business Journal article April 10
“Thousands of Southwest Airlines employees have signed up for varying levels of time off and leave as the company looks to cut costs.”
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) has been offering employees unpaid and paid leave in attempt to lower costs as airlines deal with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has zapped travel demand. Options for Southwest employees include Time Off Without Pay (TOWOP), Leave Without Pay (LWOP), or Emergency Time Off (ETO).
In March, more than 20,000 employees voluntarily took between one and 14 days of TOWOP or LWOP, said Bob Jordan, executive vice president of Corporate Services, in an internal message to employees viewed by the Dallas Business Journal.
"This totals just under 490,000 hours. So thank you. Every hour helps," Jordan said in the Thursday memo. "Please continue to consider TOWOP or LWOP in the coming months."
A Southwest spokesperson declined to comment on the internal communication. Dallas-based Southwest had 60,800 employees at the end of last year with 10,000 of them in North Texas.
Southwest is offering ETO in addition to the other two options. The parameters of ETO differ by employee group. Flight attendants, for example, were at one point offered 50 percent of minimum line guarantees for one- and two-month increments as part of an ETO option.
In April and May, about 3,000 and 6,300 employees respectively signed up for ETO. And in June, nearly 5,000 employees have expressed interest in ETO, Jordan said.
"The time off efforts to date will help Southwest preserve tens of millions of dollars in unspent salary," Jordan said. "But there is more we must do to ensure we have liquidity to weather this crisis."
Tens of thousands of airline employees across the country have taken some sort of leave, both paid and unpaid, offered as carriers look to slash costs.
At Delta Air Lines, more than 30,000 employees signed up for unpaid leaves of absence, and over 600 American Airlines pilots, often the most expensive front-line employee group, opted to take an early retirement package.
Even though most airlines applied last week for payroll grants that were part of the CARES Act stimulus package, carriers are still looking to save money. If airlines take the grants, they agree to not furlough or lay off any employees until at least Sept. 30.