Southwest CEO Doesn’t Expect Business to Be This Good Forever
Photo Credit: A Southwest plane is shown on the runway. The airline reported solid second-quarter earnings Thursday, though profits were down. Southwest Airlines
Skift Take
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly doesn't always make the decisions that Wall Street wants to see, so don't expect him to deviate from his cautious stance.
Last year, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker made an optimistic prediction: After a widespread transformation, he said, the airline industry may never see annual losses again.
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly doesn't sound quite as confident in what the future holds. Speaking to analysts during a second quarter earnings call on Thursday, he defended the airline's decision to hold onto a cushion of cash for a rainy day.
"We'd like to have some cushion because there will be bad times and our strong balance sheet has served us very well," he said. "The balance sheet strength is one of those shock absorbers that has really helped us in bad times."
Kelly's comments came in response to a question about an upgrade to the company's debt, based in part o
