According to a Forbes report, Southwest Airlines was the least likely US carrier to cancel a flight in 2024. The low-cost carrier ended the year with a cancelation rate of just 0.62% – way ahead of the industry average of 1.67%.

This flight completion rate of 99.38% meant that of the 1,452,197 flights operated by Southwest Airlines in 2024, the carrier canceled just 9,041, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company. With an average of 4,000 departures every day, how has Southwest Airlines achieved such an impressive figure?

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 with registration N8907L

Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock

Thanks to ongoing investments in its IT infrastructure and effective cybersecurity management, Southwest Airlines has managed to vastly improve its operational performance over the past decade. But how does its current low flight cancelation rate compare to that of other US carriers? The lowest 2024 flight cancelation rates of major US airlines are shown in the table below:

Airline

Flight cancelation rate

Southwest Airlines

0.62%

Spirit Airlines

0.68%

Delta Air Lines

1.05%

American Airlines

1.31%

United Airlines

1.65%

In a statement issued to Forbes, Southwest Airlines said that its impressive achievement was thanks to the carrier’s “intentional investments to enhance the strength of our network operations control procedures, crew scheduling capabilities, and our ability to quickly adapt and recover from winter storms and other disruptions. We worked hard to achieve the No. 1 ranking in completed flights. None of this would be possible without the dedication and focus of our employees, who perform at a high level every day.”

Lessons learned from December 2022

Southwest Airlines’ current position is in stark contrast to December 2022, when Winter Storm Elliott caused significant travel disruption across the US. Southwest Airlines was particularly badly affected, as its crew scheduling system collapsed, leading to nearly 17,000 flight cancelations over nine days, affecting more than two million passengers. This happened right over the peak Christmas travel season, when many passengers were traveling to visit loved ones for the holidays, resulting in a lot of disrupted plans.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 landing

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

This cost Southwest Airlines dearly. The carrier’s flight cancelation rate for that month was a staggering 14.6%, and as a result, the US Transportation Department ordered Southwest Airlines to pay a penalty of $140 million, in addition to the more than $600 million it had already paid in refunds to disrupted passengers.

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Significant investments in IT infrastructure

However, the Winter Storm Elliott incident proved to be a wake-up call for Southwest Airlines, with the carrier going on to make significant investments in its IT infrastructure. These would, in turn, help keep flight cancelation rates lower than the industry average.

Between 2023 and 2024, Southwest Airlines spent over $3 billion on upgrading its IT infrastructure. Among the investments was a new recovery system that, by improving communications and planning, reduced three- or four-day disruption events to a single day.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 N567WN. Departing 7L at Sky Harbor International Airport

Photo: Robin Guess | Shutterstock

However, even prior to that, the relatively quiet operation during the COVID-19 pandemic also gave Southwest Airlines the opportunity to make some investments to strengthen its IT infrastructure for the future. According to the carrier’s Chief Information Officer, Lauren Woods, as published by IT Revolution, the airline used this period to focus on “the essential highways.” Among the initatives put in place were:

  • Modernizing pipeline capabilities
  • Building new data platforms
  • Establishing a robust data foundation with greater emphasis on cloud data storage
  • Transitioning to real-time data streaming
  • Accelerating the closure of legacy data centers.

Effective cybersecurity software

In July 2024, many airlines around the world suffered when a faulty CrowdStrike software update caused a global Microsoft Windows outage. Delta Air Lines, in particular, was hit hardest, with more than 5,000 flights canceled over five days, losing the carrier $500 million.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 engine close-up

Photo: BlueBarronPhoto | Shutterstock

However, Southwest Airlines remained unscathed by the incident. Initial rumors surfaced online suggesting that this was because the carrier was still using an older version of Microsoft Windows that had been unaffected by the update. The airline denied this, adding that it had been spared thanks to it using a CrowdStrike competitor for its cybersecurity, and at the time, was able to issue a simple statement to its passengers, saying,

“The outage did not directly affect our operations, but we encourage Customers to check their flight status throughout the day while the overall aviation system continues to recover.”

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While many carriers were grounded or delayed, Southwest could continue functioning.

The investments seem to have paid off. Southwest Airlines’ cancelation rate of just 0.62% in 2024 is already a vast improvement on previous years, during which time the general trend has been a steadily increasing rate of flight cancelations. The carrier’s flight cancelation rates from 2013, according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, are shown in the table below:

Year

Flight cancelation rate

2013

0.8%

2014

1.5%

2015

1.4%

2016

1.3%

2017

1.6%

2018

1.6%

2019

2.9%

2020

10%*

2021

2.3%

2022

2.4%

*2020 is an anomaly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What about on-time performance?

When it comes to the best overall on-time performance among the US carriers, Delta Air Lines took the crown, with an impressive 83.5% of its flights reaching their arrival gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time in 2024. The SkyTeam carrier was followed by United Airlines, with 80.9%, and Alaska Airlines, with 79.3%.

Southwest Boeing 737-700

Photo: Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines still performed reasonably well, coming in fifth place, with 77.8% of its flights reaching their destination within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time, ahead of the industry average of 76.4%.

Southwest Airlines’ fleet of Boeing 737s

Southwest Airlines’ operation is somewhat streamlined by the carrier only operating one family of aircraft – the Boeing 737. This allows for greater interoperability for crews on the ground and in the air, and simplifies the airline’s training procedures. Just how big is Southwest Airlines’ fleet of 737s?

Southwest Airlines commenced operations in June 1971, and has since grown to become the third-largest carrier in the world by passengers flown. With its fleet of 803 aircraft, the airline flies to more than 100 destinations across the US, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

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Southwest Airlines’ fleet is made up of 803 Boeing 737 aircraft, making it the fourth-largest carrier in the world, when measured by fleet size. The world’s current five largest airlines by fleet size are as follows:

  1. United Airlines – 995
  2. Delta Air Line – 986
  3. American Airlines – 977
  4. Southwest Airlines – 803
  5. China Southern Airlines – 665.
Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX departing LAS

Photo: Bradley Caslin | Shutterstock

Southwest Airlines is the world’s largest operator of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft type, with a staggering 247 in its fleet and 158 on order. Each of the carrier’s 737 MAX 8s can accommodate up to 175 passengers in an all-economy class configuration. Southwest Airlines also has an outstanding order for 342 of the smaller 737 MAX 7, each of which will carry up to 148 passengers.

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Southwest Airlines was the launch customer for the Boeing 737-700, and today operates 351 of the aircraft, in addition to 205 737-800s. In the carrier’s all-economy class configuration, these aircraft can seat up to 143 and 175 aircraft, respectively.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 in approach for landing at San Jose International Airport (SJC) in beautiful golden California desert.

Photo: Minh K Tran | Shutterstock

However, faced with rising financial losses, and in a bid to raise over $800 million in liquidity, Southwest Airlines recently agreed to a sale-and-leaseback deal for 36 of its 737-800s. In a statement, the carrier said,

“Lease terms for the aircraft will range from 26 to 37 months, during which the Company will pay aircraft rents. Aircraft ownership costs will increase by approximately $2.6 million per aircraft, annually, as aircraft rental expense will exceed previous depreciation expense levels.”

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Although recent quarters have proved more challenging than others for the carrier, Southwest Airlines’ low-cost operating model has, on the whole, proven to be successful. The airline’s impressive flight cancelation rate of just 0.62% in 2024 will no doubt give passengers the confidence they need to book with the airline, safe in the knowledge that their flight is highly likely to operate as planned.

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