Dominick Reuter | AFP | Getty Images
A Southwest Airlines jet sits on the runway at Philadelphia International Airport after it was forced to land with an engine failure, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 2018.
Southwest Airlines reservations have declined in the wake of a deadly mid-air engine failure aboard one of its flights, the company warned Thursday.
Shares were more than 3 percent lower in premarket trading after Southwest forecast a decline in second-quarter revenue of 1 to 3 percent.
“Approximately one to two points of this estimated decrease is attributable to recent softness in bookings following the Flight 1380 accident,” Southwest said.
The company is in the midst of a fan-blade inspection program that has lead to the cancellation of scores of flights.
A blade on one of the Boeing 737-700’s engines broke off when the plane was above 30,000 feet, sending shrapnel flying and puncturing a window. One passenger, bank executive Jennifer Riordan, was partially sucked out of the opening and died. It was Southwest’s first passenger fatality from an accident in its history and the first such fatality aboard a U.S. airline since 2009.
Original source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/26/southwest-warns-about-drop-in-bookings-after-fatal-engine-failure.html.
