Several rivals posted losses during the first quarter, which is typically the weakest time of year for airlines. Lucrative corporate travel, which has yet to return to prepandemic levels, didn’t fill in for the typical drop-off in vacation travel after the winter holidays. At the same time, carriers grappled with higher costs for fuel and labor.
. The constraints have been a double-edged sword, limiting growth but helping to bolster fares against the backdrop of strong demand. Southwest said it now expects to receive 70 of the planes this year—20 fewer than it had expected—which will shave about 1 percentage point from its planned capacity growth. The airline also said it could slow the pace of some hiring as a result.delays, but said any delivery snags potentially can ripple throughout American’s network and impact customers’ travel plans.
“Unfortunately, the timing of these delivery shortfalls will impact summer capacities for many of our customers, and we feel terrible about that,” Boeing CEO David Calhoun said this week. A Boeing spokeswoman declined to comment further Thursday.