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Southwest Airlines is offering some airport workers extended leaves of absence and buyouts in order to avoid “overstaffing in certain locations.”
The airline blames a shortage of new aircraft from Boeing, which has been unable to meet delivery schedules due to a seven-week strike involving more than 30,000 employees.
A spokesperson at the Dallas-based airline says the “voluntary separation” offers are limited to 18 airports.
Southwest did not say which airports or the number of employees will be affected, the Associated Press reported.
The spokesperson said that pilots and flight attendants are excluded from the buyout offers, which mainly target ground operations staff, including customer service agents, baggage handlers and cargo workers.
Southwest officials said the airline plans to reduce its workforce by 2,000 at the end of the year.
The airline’s workforce increased from 66,600 to almost 75,000, last year.
Southwest said the aircraft delivery delays forced it to “reduce overall capacity to meet demand with a constrained fleet.”
“Offering voluntary separation and extended time off to contract and noncontract employees, along with continued slowed hiring, will help us avert overstaffing in certain locations,” it said.
The airline expected a delivery of about 85 new Boeing 737 jets. However, this number was slashed to 20 due to production challenges at Boeing.
Southwest has been struggling since the pandemic and has tried its best to remain profitable despite economic woes. To improve its operations, the airline made strategic adjustments, including dropping its open seating system.
