Southwest Airways‘ CEO mentioned the corporate will improve winter staffing and tools to assist keep away from a repeat of mass cancelations over the year-end holidays that value the corporate hundreds of thousands of {dollars} and stranded tens of 1000’s of vacationers.

In a submitting forward of an investor convention, Southwest mentioned it continues to anticipate a loss within the first quarter after a income hit of as a lot as $350 million ensuing from the fallout of the vacation mess final 12 months, when it canceled greater than 16,000 flights over the past 10 days of 2022, drawing criticism from Washington.

Southwest mentioned it expects unit prices, excluding gasoline, to be up as a lot as 6.5% 12 months over 12 months this quarter, larger than a January forecast of a rise of not more than 4%.

The corporate will buy extra tools to deice planes and bolster staffing ranges. Bitter temperatures throughout Winter Storm Elliott restricted how a lot time crews had been in a position to spend exterior, Southwest mentioned.

The airline may even enhance expertise to raised predict how lengthy deicing might take and has improved one in all its scheduling platforms to raised employees flights when issues go unsuitable.

“We perceive the basis causes that led to the vacation disruption, and we’re validating our inside assessment with the third-party evaluation. Now, we anticipate to mitigate the chance of an occasion of this magnitude ever taking place once more,” CEO Bob Jordan mentioned in a information launch. “Work is effectively underway implementing motion objects to organize for subsequent winter—with some objects already accomplished.”