Portland airport workers among Southwest employees eligible for buyouts

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — To mitigate “overstaffing,” a top airline is offering buyouts to some of its employees at the Portland International Airport.

A Southwest spokesperson told KOIN 6 that two of its Portland workgroups are eligible for what the airline is describing as a “voluntary separation program.” These employees work within the Ground Operations department, which includes customer service agents, operations agents and ramp agents.

A number of employees who don’t work at the airport, but still support ground operations at Southwest’s headquarters, are eligible as well. The program has been offered to both contract and non-contract employees.

“Southwest has reduced overall capacity to meet demand with a constrained fleet due to aircraft delivery delays,” an airline spokesperson explained in an email. “Offering voluntary separation and extended time off to contract and noncontract employees, along with continued slowed hiring, will help us avert overstaffing in certain locations.”

On Monday, the Associated Press reported that employees at 17 other airports were informed of the voluntary separation program. The outlet previously revealed that hedge fund Elliott Investment Management has spent several months urging the company to reconsider its strategy in hopes of increasing revenue.

AP also reported that Southwest’s annual profit is likely to drop for a third consecutive year. The decline has been attributed to the airline’s fiasco from December 2022, when thousands of flights were canceled.

Although the cancelations occurred amid a winter storm impacting several cities, including Portland, some employees cited the company’s failure to modernize its communications systems that had been in place for decades.

Earlier in September, Southwest announced its plans for “Southwest 2.0”: an updated version of the airline with assigned seating and fees for seats with extra legroom. The company projects these changes will lead to an additional $1.5 billion in pre-tax earnings in 2027.