With an anticipated busy summer season close by, Southwest Airlines added flight attendants to the cabin crews already slated to be back at work this summer.
Several weeks ago, with favorable trends continuing Southwest recalled more than 200 pilots who took a voluntary leave when numerous flights were canceled because of the Coronavirus pandemic. In a statement, Southwest officials say the pilots will be recalled to “active status” on June 1st to “support the upcoming summer schedule.”
The Transportation Security Administration has also been seeing a sharp increase in airport passengers. They noted that on the week of March 28th, they screened 1,580,785 people at airport checkpoints nationwide on Friday, April 2. It was the highest checkpoint numbers since March 12, 2020.
On April 8th the airline said it was recalling over 2,700 flight attendants which is the latest sign of the commitment of the airline to fly it’s regular schedule for the summer.
As more Americans become vaccinated, Southwest is among U.S. airlines signaling a recovery and trying to prepare for pent-up demand for domestic leisure travel.
Southwest says business travel continues to be subdued – that’s in line with what other United States-based airlines say. But Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has said leisure-led demand in March and April exceeds its earlier forecasts.
The Dallas-based airline said it still has other employees participating in the voluntary extended time-off program, including 800 additional pilots.
