<p>With a strong push from taxpayers, Southwest Airlines is the first major U.S. airline to report a profit since the pandemic started, and airlines executives say that the worst of the pandemic-caused crisis for their industry appears to be over.</p>
<p>Southwest Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said Thursday that his airline has seen steady improvement in U.S. leisure-travel sales since mid-February. He credited rising vaccinations and falling new cases of COVID-19.</p>
<p>“While the pandemic is not over, we believe the worst is behind us, in terms of the severity of the negative impact on travel demand,” Kelly said.</p>
<p>American Airlines posted another large loss, but its CEO also sounded upbeat heading into the peak summer-travel season, when airlines usually earn most of their money. The airline is aggressively expanding its schedule for summer and recalling employees from leave.</p>
<p>“We are starting to see light at the end of this very dark tunnel,” Doug Parker, who is also American’s chairman, said on a call with analysts.</p>
<p>Leisure travel within the U.S. has picked up recently, with about 1.4 million travelers going through airports each day this month. Still, that remains about 40% below the pre-pandemic pace of 2019. Lucrative business travel and long-haul international flying remain much more deeply depressed, down around 80% from 2019.</p>
<p>Southwest, the fourth-largest U.S. airline, is benefitting more from the pickup in U.S. leisure travel because it is less dependent than its biggest rivals — American, Delta and United — on business travelers, and it doesn’t fly to Europe or Asia, which are mostly closed to American visitors.</p>
<p>Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. reported net income of $116 million in the first quarter. However, Southwest received $1.45 billion in federal aid to help cover labor costs, and without that and other temporary items, the Dallas-based carrier would have lost $1 billion. The results were 3 cents per share better than Wall Street expectations. Revenue fell 52% to $2.05 billion.</p>
<p>American reported a loss of $1.25 billion, and that did not include $3.1 billion in taxpayer funds approved by Congress and the Trump and Biden administrations. Without that help and other one-time gains and losses, American would have lost $2.7 billion.</p>
<p>Airlines have been offering rock-bottom fares to attract passengers during the pandemic, but those prices appear to be heading up.</p>
<p>American’s chief revenue officer, Vasu Raja, said fares on a per-mile basis started the year at around half their 2019 levels, but summer flights are selling for about 90% of where they stood two years ago.</p>
<p>The reason: supply and demand.</p>
<p>American has added about 25% to available seats for popular leisure destinations such as Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida, but bookings are running about double their year-ago levels, Raja said. He suggested that the airline is now more concerned with maximizing profit on each flight rather than simply filling seats.</p>
<p>American Airlines Group Inc. lost $4.32 per share after subtracting federal aid and other temporary items. That was 2 cents per share worse than forecast by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenue dropped 53% from a year ago, to $4.01 billion.</p>
<p>Alaska Airlines’ parent reported a loss of $131 million, or $3.51 per share, after excluding federal relief and other temporary items. Revenue fell 51% to $797 million.</p>
<p>In trading Thursday morning, Southwest shares rose 1%, while shares of American and Alaska Air Group Inc. fell about 1%.</p>
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<p>David Koenig can be reached at <a href="https://twitter.com/airlinewriter">www.twitter.com/airlinewriter </a></p>
