Southwest’s Operational Performance During Winter Holidays

Southwest operated nearly 81,500 flights between Dec. 20, 2023 and Jan. 7, 2024 with solid operational performance across many metrics. Southwest made operational investments that assisted in isolating effects and fully recovering our operation after dense fog halted flights on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 at Chicago Midway Airport.

Despite the operational interruption at the fourth-busiest airport in our network, Southwest canceled fewer than one percent of scheduled flights during the 19-day extended holiday travel period that stretched through the entire first week of January 2024. With more than 4,000 daily flights across the same period, Southwest moved more than 9.7 million passengers.

With weather and air traffic control initiatives slowing travel, Southwest had one of its best December operational performances in recent years. The momentum continued in 2024 as we rung in the new year with our best Jan. 1 on-time performance since 2004.

Throughout 2023, including Thanksgiving, Southwest delivered strong operational performances on Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day holiday weekends as we continue to enhance reliability for our Customers and Employees.

We thank our loyal Customers for choosing Southwest for their travel this holiday season and look forward to welcoming them onboard again soon. Our more than 74,000 dedicated Employees continue to serve Southwest Hospitality on the ground and in the air, and look forward to another year of providing friendly, reliable, low-cost air travel to help connect our Customers with important moments in their lives.