Southwest Airlines said on Thursday that it will resume flying the Boeing 737 Max on March 11.
The carrier will start the service slowly, flying the Max on 10 daily point-to-point sequences for the first month of operations, chief operating officer Mike Van de Ven said. Beginning in mid-April Southwest plans to move into normal operational mode for the aircraft and will have 65 Max planes available.
In late December American became the first U.S. carrier to resume service with the Max since its grounding in March 2019. United will resume Max service next month, and Alaska will operate its first ever Max flights in March.
Van de Ven discussed the Max relaunch on an earnings call in which Southwest reported its first annual loss since 1972, which was the carrier's first full year of operations.
Southwest's net loss of $3.1 billion in 2020 included a fourth quarter loss of $908 million. By comparison, Southwest recorded net income of $2.3 billion in 2019, including $514 million in the fourth quarter.
It recorded fourth-quarter revenue of $2.01 billion, off 64.9% year-over-year, and $100 million less than analyst expectations, according to the investment website Seeking Alpha. Full-year revenue was down 59.7% from 2019.
Southwest entered 2021 with liquidity of $14.3 billion. Daily cash burn in the fourth quarter was $12 million. The carrier expects that number to rise to $17 million in the first quarter as demand remains soft and fuel prices rise.
Tom Nealon, Southwest's president, estimated that operating revenues will need to reach 60% to 70% of 2019 levels, or about double what it is now, for Southwest to begin breaking even.
"We have every reason to be hopeful that this too shall pass, and when it does, we will be ready," CEO Gary Kelly said.