Why is Southwest Airlines Having Hiring Problems?

Photo by Owen Lystrup on Unsplash

After receiving extensive criticism from its pilots union in late 2023 due to flight cancellations and delays, Southwest Airlines is once again facing a pilot problem. This time, Southwest’s problem comes in its plans for future hiring.

Southwest recently announced that the airline is implementing a hiring freeze and will cut overall hiring by 50% in 2024. Unfortunately, according to the airline, this is out of their control.

The hiring freeze seems to be a result of problems receiving enough aircraft. Boeing has told Southwest that it will only be able to deliver 46 of the 58 Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes it committed to the airline in 2024. The Chief Executive of Southwest, Bob Jordan, has doubted that number and expects Boeing to under deliver the new estimate.

As a result, Southwest expects to not only reduce hiring, but these delays will likely reduce capacity in 2024 by 1-1.5%.

The recent problems of Boeing are no secret. After two crashes and the deaths of 346 people, Boeing temporarily grounded its 737 Max 8 planes in 2019. Investigations by the FAA followed along with class-action lawsuits.

A damning Netflix documentary, Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, also revealed the level of negligence going on at the company.

With new safety issues for the 737 Max 9 planes as well, Boeing’s problems are far from over.

The cascading fallout from Boeing’s continued corporate disaster has now reached Southwest with the hiring freeze. What airline will be next?