Southwest Airlines will no longer fly out of Houston’s Bush Airport and 3 other airports after financial lows and Boeing delays [Video]

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Southwest Airlines announced it will stop flying to Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Aug. 4, 2024, as part of a plan to cope with weak financial results and delays in getting new planes from Boeing.

Southwest said it lost $231 million. CEO Robert Jordan said the airline was reacting quickly “to address our financial underperformance,” including by slowing hiring and asking employees to take time off.

The Dallas-based carrier said it expects to end this year with 2,000 fewer employees than it had at the start of the year.

Southwest will also stop flying to three other airports: Cozumel, Mexico; Syracuse, New York; and Bellingham, Washington; and implement capacity reductions in Atlanta, Georgia; and Chicago, Illinois.

The closures will help the airline focus on more profitable locations and deploy a fleet of planes that will be smaller than it had planned. Southwest said it’s expecting only 20 new 737 …