Southwest Ending Flights From Newark, Will Stay At LaGuardia

NEWARK, NJ — Say farewell to Southwest Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport.

On Sunday, Nov. 3, Southwest will cease operations in Newark, New Jersey, according to a revenue/earnings report released on Thursday. The company still plans to keep a “consolidated” New York footprint at LaGuardia Airport.

According to Southwest, its employees at Newark Airport will be given the chance to apply for new jobs at other nearby airports, including LaGuardia, where the company is seeing “strong customer demand.”

Southwest’s pending departure at Newark Airport comes as the airline financially reels from the forced grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft following a pair of international crashes that killed 346 people. The grounding hit Southwest hard, reducing the airline’s operating income by about $175 million in the second quarter alone, it stated.

The company's overall bottom line remained healthy, however. Southwest reported “record quarterly operating revenues of $5.9 billion” and a “net income of $741 million.” The company saw an operating margin of 16.4 percent and a net margin of 12.5 percent.

“Despite challenges caused by the MAX groundings, our network is performing well, and our financial outlook for second half 2019 remains solid,” Southwest Chair and CEO Gary Kelly stated.

While the airline said it anticipates a return of the MAX during the fourth quarter of 2019, the boost will apparently come too late for Newark Airport.

“The financial results at Newark have been below expectations, despite the efforts of our excellent team at Newark,” Kelly said. “I am grateful to our wonderful Newark employees, who are a top priority, and will be given an opportunity to relocate to another station in our system, including LaGuardia Airport, where we are experiencing strong customer demand. As part of this move, we will offer options and flexibility for customers to recover planned travel from other area airports.”

Southwest Airlines isn’t the only company that’s recently decided to stop flying out of Newark Airport… albeit under different financial circumstances.

In March, WOW Air passengers planning to fly out of Newark Airport got a nasty surprise when the bankrupt Icelandic company abruptly ceased operations, leaving them stranded in Essex County.

• See related article: Budget Airline Serving Newark Airport Folds, Passengers Stranded

It was the second time in a year that an international budget airline suddenly went belly-up at Newark Airport, leaving customers in the lurch. Danish airline Primera Air suspended its service at Newark Airport in October 2018 after declaring bankruptcy.

• See related article: Budget Airline Goes Bankrupt, Cancels Newark Airport Flights

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