Southwest Halts 2024 Pilot Hiring Plans

In a memo, the airline said it would be pausing pilot new hire classes in 2024.

Ryan Ewing

Monday, March 04, 2024 at 02:35 PM ET

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A Southwest 737 in Las Vegas. [AirlineGeeks/William Derrickson]

Key Takeaways:

Southwest Airlines is pausing all new pilot hire classes for the remainder of 2024, effective April, as part of a broader company-wide slowdown in hiring.
This decision is based on expected capacity growth and aims to keep staffing levels at or below attrition rates.
Pilots with conditional job offers will be placed into a "deferred candidate pool" for future consideration, with no specific date given for hiring to recommence.
The move follows a record year for pilot hiring in 2023 and mirrors similar pauses by other airlines in the industry.

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Southwest is the latest airline to adjust its pilot hiring plans in 2024. The Dallas-based airline is pausing all new hire classes this year, it said in a memo viewed by AirlineGeeks.

“Based on expected capacity growth beyond 2024, we’ve made the difficult decision to suspend Initial First Officer Training classes through the remainder of 2024 and defer job offers, beginning with our April classes,” the memo to prospective candidates said.