Southwest Cutting Jobs At BWI Airport, Continuing Airline's Shake-Up

LINTHICUM, MD — Southwest Airlines is cutting jobs at four airports, including Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

On Wednesday, WBAL-TV was the first to obtain an internal memo detailing the "workforce reduction." Southwest employed 5,200 workers at BWI Airport before this news.

The layoffs take effect June 1. They will not affect Southwest's service at BWI Airport, the company said.

The other airports deemed overstaffed that will see cuts are Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San José Mineta International Airport (SJC) and Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR).

"Our current flight schedule and modest growth plan for 2025 require alignments to our workforce at four airports where we operate. We always try to minimize the impact to our Employees and all will have an opportunity to remain with Southwest," an airline spokesperson told Patch in a Thursday email.

Southwest didn't say if the affected workers would have to transfer to a new airport to remain with the company.

The airline didn't answer Patch's question about how many jobs were trimmed at each airport. The spokesperson also declined to confirm the authenticity of the memo.

BWI Airport is Southwest's largest hub on the East Coast, flying to 79 nonstop destinations out of Baltimore.

"Southwest regularly analyzes routes to optimize our network based on many factors. In the years since the pandemic, a number of different factors have limited or slowed our planned capacity restoration and growth in BWI, LAX, SJC, and BUR, resulting in our overstaffed position in these locations," the memo said.

Union leaders said affected workers can collect a severance package if they don't transfer to another Southwest job.

"Your Union would like to be absolutely clear, our only responsibility is to you, the membership. We are committed to holding Southwest Airlines completely accountable to abide by every Article and paragraph of your Collective Bargaining Agreement to ensure that any and all protections contained therein for our members are adhered to. We will accept no less from the Company," International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 142 President John M. Coveny Jr. said in a Wednesday press release.

These layoffs are in addition to the 1,750 corporate job cuts that Southwest announced last month. Nobody at BWI Airport was laid off in that downsizing.

Southwest is in the middle of several other shake-ups.

The airline also announced last week that most passengers will soon have to pay for their luggage, ending the "Bags Fly Free" policy that allowed each traveler two free checked bags.

Open seating will end soon, creating paid options for seat selection and extra legroom. Southwest is further changing its Rapid Rewards points, offering more points for more expensive fares. Rewards redemption rates will now vary based on the demand for the flight.

Flight credits will now have expiration dates, and there will be a no-frills Basic fare with the cheapest pricing.

Though rolling back some of its budget-friendly options, Southwest is expanding other amenities.

Online travel agency Expedia started selling Southwest flights last month.

The airline also partnered with Icelandair to let passengers book flights from Southwest's North American destinations to Europe via BWI Airport. That service debuted on Feb. 13, the same day as Southwest's first-ever scheduled overnight redeye flights.

Most of the commercial flights at BWI Airport are operated by Southwest. The airline owns 71% of the airport's market share, having flown nearly 19.1 million BWI passengers last year.

That route list includes these six new flights that will debut this June:

• Long Beach, California.
• Ontario, California.
• Portland, Oregon.
• San Francisco, California.
• San Jose, California.
• Seattle, Washington.

Related:

• Southwest Bags No Longer Fly Free: What Does It Mean For BWI Airport?
• Will Southwest Airlines Layoffs Include Workers At BWI Airport?
• New Flights At BWI Airport: Southwest Adds 6 Routes To West Coast