Southwest Airlines set to revise earnings forecast

Bloomberg

Southwest Airlines Co will update its earnings guidance prior to reporting fourth-quarter results to reflect costs associated with an operations meltdown that forced it to cancel 15,700 flights over eight days.
“We will be issuing some information before earnings,” Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan said in an interview without providing specifics of the changes. “Obviously it’s a significant event.”
Jordan said that the flight disruptions and compensation to passengers for related hotels and meals would “certainly be an impact” on the quarter, and that the airline already was assessing those costs. The Dallas-based company is scheduled to report results on January 26.
Southwest is expected to report a fourth-quarter adjusted profit of 67 cents a share, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The consensus estimate has declined 16% in the past four weeks, according to Bloomberg data.
The carrier is continuing its review of what led to the widespread cancellations and the work should be “completed swiftly,” Jordan said in a public update. Southwest’s unions, some of which had criticised the airline’s crew scheduling system before the meltdown, are involved in the review, he said.