DALLAS — North Texas-based Southwest and American Airlines have released their final reports revealing their financial gains and losses for 2023 as a whole and for the fourth quarter of the year.
Southwest Airlines reported a Q4 net loss of $219 million and a net income (excluding special items) of $233 million.
For the full year, Southwest earned a net income of $498 million, according to the company's report.
In a news release, CEO and president Bob Jordan said he's proud of Southwest's accomplishments for 2023, but there were some goal that were missed.
"2023 was a year of significant progress. We finished the year a much stronger Company thanks to the efforts of our incredible People," Jordan said. "As we work urgently to restore our profit margins to historical levels, we believe our 2024 plan provides a line of sight to improve our profitability year-over-year, earn our cost of capital this year, and provide significant progress towards our long-term goal to well exceed our cost of capital."
For American Airlines, the company announced a fourth-quarter net income of $19 million and a full-year net income of $822 million.
According to the airlines' news release, this report marks their best-ever fourth-quarter and full-year completion. They also noted their lowest number of annual flight cancellations since their 2013 merger with US airways.
“The American Airlines team produced an exceptionally strong performance in 2023,” said American’s CEO Robert Isom. "As we look forward, we remain focused on delivering a reliable operation for our customers and reengineering the business to build an even more efficient airline.”