Airlines close books on rotten 2020 and so far, 2021 is grim

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer
DALLAS (AP) — The final airline earnings reports for 2020 are in, and they tell just how awful a year it was for air travel. American, Southwest and JetBlue reported Thursday that between them, they lost about $3.5 billion just in the last three months of 2021. For all of 2021, Southwest lost $3.1 billion. It’s Southwest’s first money-losing year since 1972, when the airline was in its infancy and Richard Nixon was president. All three airlines are issuing dismal forecasts for revenue in the first quarter of 2021 that sound a lot like downbeat predictions earlier from Delta, United and Alaska. The airlines are looking past spring and hoping that they can salvage something of the peak summer vacation season.