Changing Altitude: Bob Jordan Reinvents Southwest

Hey, thanks for having me.

So how do you, how do you plan in a, in an enigma? Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow?

First thing I would just say, we, the people of Southwest did an awesome job completing the transformation.

It's working.

The demand for our, for Southwest is through the roof.

I mean, we had record operating revenues.

We had record all time unit revenue.

So, you know, fuel, fuel, fuel or no fuel, the transformation is working and, And you can see it in the results.

We are the only major carrier that expanded our operating margin year over year.

And we did that by almost five points.

And despite fuel being up $820 million in the quarter, our earnings per share of 66 cents was 500%.

over a year ago.

So, I mean, it just demonstrates that this stuff is working.

And we don't control fuel anyways, you know, so all we can do is control what we control.

And the main thing is our customers love the new products.

The demand is really strong.

The demand is strong everywhere.

I mean, leisure, business, all geographies, all products.

So I think it's a good time to be Southwest Airlines.

It is.

And you have successfully passed along some of these really outrageous fuel costs in your ticket prices.

But how long can you do that? At what point do people start saying, well, maybe business people say, OK, I'll go back to Zoom.

Our grandma says, well, I think I'm going to skip see the kids this summer.

Well, I think the biggest evidence is the demand is not abating at all.

And we've got about 65% of the fourth quarter booked.