Southwest Airlines CEO warns of 'very prolonged, sluggish travel environment'

15 April, 2020

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly, via the carrier's official blog, said (13-Apr-2020) Southwest needs to "be prepared for a very prolonged, sluggish travel environment", saying he does not think "air travel will snap right back to where it was here this year", though "maybe it will come back next year". However, "if this is a real recession and a bad recession, it could take four or five years" for travel demand to return, he warned, adding this has been the previous experience in the 1990s and 2000s.