Southwest Airlines pauses on hiring pilots

Southwest Airlines is pumping the brakes on hiring more pilots this year, as other major airlines can’t seem to hire enough.

“Southwest is slowing hiring across the company in 2024 to levels at or below our attrition rate, and we’ve adjusted pilot hiring in line with our current business plan,” said Chris Perry, spokesman for Southwest. “Our published flight schedule is aligned with these staffing levels.”

In its latest full-year earnings, the company reported it would continue to plan for capacity growth beyond 2024 in the low- to mid-singledigits, year-over-year. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said the air carrier planned 2024 “with headcount flat to down as compared with year-end 2023 as we slow hiring to levels that are at or below our attrition rate.”

Last year, Southwest added over 1,800 pilots to its crew and plans to hire” just south of 350,” not accounting for attrition since it’s early in the year. Southwest won’t be hiring for the final nine months of 2024.

Budget carrier Frontier Airlines has also made cuts to its hiring this year, according to Simple Flying.

“We have not ceased our pilot hiring but rather have slowed down our hiring pipeline and are holding smaller classes for a period of time as a result of having a full pool of pilots at present,” a Frontier spokesperson said in a statement.

Over the last several years, there’s been a major push with the airlines to add more pilots to their crews to combat the ongoing demand for travel. The airline industry faces an ongoing shortage of pilots, which will grow to a shortfall of nearly 80,000 by 2032 worldwide, according to Oliver Wyman. Major carriers like Southwest had been sounding alarms to get more pilots in and accommodate the industry’s growing schedule.

Kit Darby, president of his own aviation consulting firm, said airlines in good markets can lose money on hiring a pilot if they are hired when there isn’t demand. Screening and training are costly to an air carrier, which could ultimately result in a backlog.

He said there’s also a shift in the market when it comes to plane availability. Southwest flies

Boeing 737 planes, where some of the latest models have had issues, but none that have significantly impacted the airline.

“You don’t want to train pilots if you don’t have the planes for them to work,” Darby said. “Even though we have a shortage, I don’t believe Southwest at the time is currently short.”