Author: Holden Wilen

Southwest has now finalized deals with five employee groups.

COO Andrew Watterson will represent Dallas-based Southwest at a Feb. 9 hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation regarding the carrier’s holiday operations meltdown that left millions of passengers stranded.

During the town hall, Southwest executives apologized once again for the December meltdown while also teasing improvements for corporate travel clients and discussing what it will take to begin expanding to new destinations again.

Southwest reported a $220 million loss for the fourth quarter and expects to take another loss in the first quarter as a result of its operations meltdown in December.

Southwest executives spent an hour and a half detailing the steps they are taking to mitigate future problems, including spending $1.3 billion on technology improvements this year.

Southwest said there has been a deceleration in bookings in January and February, which will likely lead to another loss in the first quarter.

The “historic action” by Southwest’s pilots union comes less than four weeks after the airline canceled more than 16,000 flights during a holiday operations meltdown in December.

CEO Bob Jordan apologized yet again to customers for the airlines’ operations meltdown in December and invited business customers to participate in a town hall with executives later this month.

Mark Wade, who has spent more than two decades working at Bank of Texas, became CEO at the beginning of the year following the retirement of longtime leader Norm Bagwell.

Texas Capital’s newest investment banker brings more than 20 years of experience to the firm and offered his outlook on for M&A in the upcoming year.