Company file · LUV
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines' revenue rose 2.1% in FY2025, to $28.1B, and net income fell 5.2% to $441M
Revenue rose 2.1% to $28.1B in FY2025, from $27.5B in FY2024. Net income fell 5.2% to $441M. Passenger was the largest product or service, at 91% of revenue.
Key facts
In fiscal 2025, which ended Dec 31, 2025, Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) took in $28.1B of revenue (up 2.1% on fiscal 2024); net income was $441M (down 5.2%). The most recent quarter, ended Sep 30, 2026, brought revenue of $8.4B, up 21.2% year over year, with net income of $270M. Passenger was the biggest single line by product or service: 91% of fiscal 2025 revenue. Sources: 10-K for fiscal 2025 (filed Feb 5, 2026) and 10-Q for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2026 (filed Oct 22, 2026).
Source: 10-K FY2025, filed Feb 5, 2026
Source: 10-Q filed Apr 23, 2026 · 10-Q filed Jul 23, 2026 · 10-Q filed Oct 22, 2026
How it makes money
By product or service, FY2025
- LineAmountSharevs FY2024
- Passenger$25.5B91%+2.2%
- Product and Service, Other$2.4B8%+1.2%
- Cargo and Freight$171M1%−2.3%
Source: 10-K FY2025, XBRL breakdown
By product or service in FY2025: Passenger (91%), Product and Service, Other (8%) and Cargo and Freight (1%), as shares of total revenue. Total revenue was $28.1B.
Source: 10-K FY2025
By region, FY2025
Share is of the FY2025 total; the last column is the change from FY2024.
Learn more: Revenue vs. net income · Gross, operating and net margin
What changed last quarter
Comparing Q3 2026 (Jul to Sep 2026) compared with Q3 2025 (Jul to Sep 2025)
Each pair of bars shows the dollar amount for both quarters. Longer bar, more money. Bars in a group share one scale.
Q3 2026Q3 2025
Company
Source: Southwest Airlines 10-Q for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2026, filed Oct 22, 2026
By product or service
Source: Southwest Airlines 10-Q for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2026, filed Oct 22, 2026
The bull case and the bear case
The bull case
- Revenue rose 2.1% in FY2025 to $28.1B, from $27.5B a year earlier. 10-K, FY2025
- Operating cash flow rose 298.7% in FY2025 to $1.8B. 10-K, FY2025
- Diluted shares fell 13.2% in FY2025, so each share represents a larger slice of profit. 10-K, FY2025
- Total debt fell 26.4% in FY2025 to $4.9B. 10-K, FY2025
The bear case
- Net income fell 5.2% in FY2025 to $441M, from $465M. 10-K, FY2025
- Cargo and Freight revenue fell 2.3% in FY2025 to $171M. 10-K, FY2025
- Latin America revenue fell 5.3% in FY2025 to $756M. 10-K, FY2025
What optimists and skeptics tend to point to, each tied to a filing. Ticker Sage doesn't pick a side, and neither list is a reason to buy or sell.
What the company does
Southwest Airlines is in the passenger airlines industry, part of the industrials sector. The SEC files it under Air Transportation, Scheduled.
The full description of Southwest Airlines' business is in Item 1 of its 10-K, linked below. This page shows its revenue by product or service and region.
Its fiscal year ends in December; the latest, FY2025, ended Dec 31, 2025.
Source: 10-K, Item 1 Business
Risks common in this industry
These are general risks for companies in the passenger airlines industry. They are not a summary of Southwest Airlines’s own risk factors; for those, read Item 1A of its latest 10-K, linked below.
- Economic cyclesDemand for equipment and services rises and falls with business investment.
- Costs and supplyMaterial, labor and supplier problems can raise costs or delay delivery.
- Trade and tariffsTariffs and trade policy affect costs and sales.
- Contracts and backlogLarge projects and government contracts can be delayed, cut or repriced.
- Regulation and liabilitySafety, environmental and product-liability rules can raise costs.
Source: 10-K, Item 1A Risk Factors (the company's own list, in the company's words)
Three years of key numbers
Every number links to its filing; hover for the XBRL tag. A dash means the number isn't cleanly available, and we don't estimate it.
| US$ | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $26.1B | $27.5B | $28.1B |
| Net income | $465M | $465M | $441M |
| Operating cash flow | $3.2B | $462M | $1.8B |
| Cash & equivalents (year end) | $9.3B | $7.5B | $3.2B |
| Total debt (year end) | $8.0B | $6.7B | $4.9B |
| Diluted shares | 640M | 643M | 558M |
- Revenue: Total revenue for the fiscal year, as the company reports it on its income statement.
- Net income: Net income attributable to the company's shareholders, after all costs, interest and taxes.
- Operating cash flow: Cash the business brought in from its day-to-day operations during the year (cash flow statement).
- Cash & equivalents: Cash and short-term investments that count as cash equivalents on the balance sheet. Excludes longer-dated marketable securities.
- Total debt: Long-term debt, at carrying value, including the part of long-term debt due within one year.
- Diluted shares: Weighted average shares outstanding for the year, including the effect of options and stock awards.
Learn more: How to read an income statement · Earnings per share, basic and diluted · Free cash flow · How to read a balance sheet · Growth rate calculator · P/E calculator · Market cap calculator · Free cash flow calculator · Return on equity and assets calculator
Explainers for this page
- Debt-to-equity ratio
- The cash flow statement
- Risk factors (Item 1A)
- Net debt and net cash
- Remaining performance obligations (RPO)
- Off-balance-sheet arrangements
- Convertible notes
Plain-English guides to terms this file uses, with real numbers from filings.
About these numbers
Recent filings
| Form | Filed | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 10-Q | Oct 22, 2026 | Sep 30, 2026 |
| 10-Q | Jul 23, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 |
| 10-Q | Apr 23, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 |
| DEF 14A | Mar 27, 2026 | May 7, 2026 |
| 10-K | Feb 5, 2026 | Dec 31, 2025 |
Learn more: 10-K vs. 10-Q vs. 8-K · Form 4 insider filings · Fiscal years and quarters
Common questions about Southwest Airlines
How does Southwest Airlines make money?
In fiscal 2025, revenue totaled $28.1B. By product or service in FY2025: Passenger (91%), Product and Service, Other (8%) and Cargo and Freight (1%), as shares of total revenue. Total revenue was $28.1B. Source: 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Feb 5, 2026.
What was Southwest Airlines's revenue in fiscal 2025?
Revenue came to $28.1B in the year ended Dec 31, 2025. Going back two years, it was $26.1B in fiscal 2023 and $27.5B in fiscal 2024, so the latest year was up 2.1%. Source: 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Feb 5, 2026.
Is Southwest Airlines profitable?
Yes, by US accounting rules (GAAP): net income was $441M in fiscal 2025, down 5.2% from $465M a year earlier. For the quarter ended Sep 30, 2026, net income was $270M. The page's About these numbers section explains what is included. Source: 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Feb 5, 2026.
What did Southwest Airlines report in its latest quarterly filing?
The 10-Q for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2026 shows revenue of $8.4B, against $6.9B in the same quarter a year before (up 21.2%), and net income of $270M, against $54M (up 400.0%). Source: 10-Q for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2026, filed Oct 22, 2026.
What are the main risks Southwest Airlines faces?
Southwest Airlines's own risk factors are in Item 1A of its 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Feb 5, 2026. Risks that are common among companies in the passenger airlines industry include Economic cycles; costs and supply; trade and tariffs; contracts and backlog; regulation and liability. The first: Demand for equipment and services rises and falls with business investment. Source: 10-K, Item 1A Risk Factors.
Where do these Southwest Airlines numbers come from?
Two filings Southwest Airlines made with the SEC: its fiscal 2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, and its 10-Q for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2026, filed Oct 22, 2026. The figures are taken from the XBRL data the SEC publishes, and every one links back to its source. Methodology explains how fiscal years and missing numbers are handled.
Tracked funds that report owning Southwest Airlines
- Elliott Investment Management: 24,308,000 shares, reported value $1.25B at Jun 30, 2026 (−19.9% in shares since the filing for Mar 31, 2026). Form 13F filed Aug 14, 2026.
- Citadel Advisors: 1,047,104 shares, reported value $53.8M at Jun 30, 2026 (−45.9% in shares since the filing for Mar 31, 2026). Form 13F filed Sep 2, 2026.
- Bridgewater Associates: 1,022,946 shares, reported value $52.6M at Jun 30, 2026 (+46.1% in shares since the filing for Mar 31, 2026). Form 13F filed Aug 14, 2026.
- Millennium Management: 859,542 shares, reported value $44.2M at Jun 30, 2026 (−44.4% in shares since the filing for Mar 31, 2026). Form 13F filed Aug 14, 2026.
- Point72 Asset Management: 856,829 shares, reported value $44.1M at Jun 30, 2026 (new in this filing). Form 13F filed Aug 14, 2026.
- Two Sigma Investments: 65,210 shares, reported value $3.4M at Jun 30, 2026 (+17.1% in shares since the filing for Mar 31, 2026). Form 13F filed Aug 14, 2026.
From each fund’s latest Form 13F, which is filed up to 45 days after quarter end and lists long positions in US-listed stocks only. A listing here is a fact about a filing, not a view on the stock. What a 13F does and doesn’t show.
Disclosures
- Editor holdings in LUV
- The editor holds no position in Southwest Airlines (LUV). As of Nov 11, 2026.
- Trading rule
- The editor does not buy or sell LUV from 3 days before to 3 days after this page is published or substantively updated.
- Compensation
- Nobody paid for this page. No affiliate links on this page.
- Sources
- The company's SEC filings, linked next to each number or, for charts, in the source line under them.
- Last updated
- Nov 10, 2026
General education, the same for every reader. Not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold LUV, and it doesn't consider your situation.
Compare with peers
| Company | Fiscal year | Revenue | Revenue growth | Net income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest AirlinesLUV | FY2025 | $28.1B | +2.1% | $441M |
| Delta Air LinesDAL | FY2025 | $63.4B | +2.8% | $5.0B |
| United Airlines HoldingsUAL | FY2025 | $59.1B | +3.5% | $3.4B |
| CaterpillarCAT | FY2025 | $67.6B | +4.3% | $8.9B |
Each row is that company’s latest fiscal year from its own 10-K, using its own revenue and net income lines. Fiscal years end in different months, and line definitions differ (banks, insurers and oil companies count revenue differently), so this is a rough side-by-side, not a like-for-like comparison.
More company files
- UNP Union Pacific
- UPS
- FDX FedEx
- ODFL Old Dominion
- EXPD Expeditors International
- CHRW C.H. Robinson
- FDXF FedEx Freight
- AAPL Apple
- MSFT Microsoft
- NVDA Nvidia
- AMZN Amazon
- GOOGL Alphabet
- META
- BRK.B Berkshire Hathaway
- AVGO Broadcom
- JPM JPMorgan Chase
- LLY Eli Lilly
- MU Micron
- WMT Walmart
- AMD
- V Visa
- XOM ExxonMobil
- JNJ Johnson & Johnson
- MA Mastercard
- ABBV AbbVie
- PLTR Palantir
- INTC Intel
- CVX Chevron
- COST Costco
- CSCO Cisco
New to filings? Learn has plain-English explainers and Tools has calculators. Methodology & Disclosures covers where every number comes from.