Southwest Airlines Co. projects a drop in bookings this quarter as federal investigators examine a mid-air engine failure that led to the death of a passenger.
Jennifer Riordan, a Wells Fargo executive from Albuquerque, was killed when shrapnel from the power plant pierced the cabin of the Boeing 737 airliner en route to Dallas from New York City. Advisers from both Boeing and the engine-maker, CFM International, are assisting authorities.
The airline expects revenue per available seat mile, an industry gauge of operating performance, to drop 1 to 3 percent in the three months through June from a year earlier. As much as two thirds of that drop, Southwest said, is “attributable to recent softness in bookings following the Flight 1380 accident.”
“Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the Riordan family, and all of our customers on the flight,” Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly said in an earnings statement Thursday. “We continue to cooperate with the National Transportation Safety Board’s thorough investigation to understand the cause of the accident.”
The carrier reported $4.9 billion in operating revenue for the quarter that ended on March 31, a 1.9 percent increase over the same time period in 2017. Net income climbed 36 percent to $463 million.
