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Southwest Halts 2024 Pilot Hiring Plans

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

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

Key Takeaways:

  • Southwest Airlines is pausing all new pilot hire classes for the remainder of 2024, effective from April.
  • This decision is attributed to adjusting expected capacity growth beyond 2024 and a company-wide slowdown in hiring to levels at or below attrition.
  • Prospective pilots with conditional job offers will be moved to a "deferred candidate pool" with no specific date provided for hiring resumption.
  • The pause follows a record pilot hiring year for Southwest in 2023 and mirrors similar actions taken by other U.S. carriers like Spirit Airlines.
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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.

Ryan Ewing

Ryan is Group President of Firecrown Media’s Aviation Group, overseeing a portfolio that includes FLYING, AirlineGeeks, AVweb, Plane + Pilot, KITPLANES, and AircraftForSale.com. He founded AirlineGeeks.com in February 2013 and has more than a decade of experience across aviation media, airport operations, airline workforce planning, and Part 135 regulatory compliance. His experience ranges from time behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing aviation industry executives. Ryan holds a B.S. in Air Transportation Management and an MBA from Arizona State University and is an adjunct instructor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

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