Southwest Airlines CEO warned of billions of losses for this quarter and requested employees to accept pay cuts

The CEO of Southwest Airline Gary Keller recently launched a video to all of the employees on Monday. In the video, the CEO of the Airline is seen announcing that the Airlines will be undergoing more pay cuts so that they can avoid layoffs and furloughs through the year 2021. The CEO is seen explaining the issues that the Airline is facing due to the coronavirus pandemic. He is also seen saying that the pandemic has affected the travel demand very largely. The only way through which they can stop the furloughs is to undergo pay cuts.

The Airline industry is also requesting the government for the extension of the payroll support program which was given under the Coronavirus Act, Relief And Economic Security CARES fund. The Act was passed by the Congress in March. Although, the act has expired on 1st October. The travel industry has reportedly not taken the expiration of the act very sportingly. The CEO on the video also said that the payroll support program has expired and the Airline cannot afford to continue with the full payment of all of the employees.

He said that either the employees have to go or they have to accept the undercut payrolls. On the other hand, he appreciated all of the employees and said that they all have performed very well and also called them heroes. However, he said that these steps must be taken so that he can save the Airlines from getting shut down. The CEO was also seen saying that he was grateful for all of the support that he got in the past 6 months. He said that the travel demand has dropped to 1970 levels. The profit was down by 70% as compared to 1 year ago. Cost and spending of the Airlines have also been cut dramatically. He warned that the quarterly losses of the Airline could be in billions. There is no vaccine they can know they are not sure about the profit of the next year also.