Southwest Airlines is the largest domestic air carrier in the United States by passengers boarded. Southwest operates nearly 800 aircraft in an all-Boeing 737 fleet. Despite offering some longer routes and a few perks for business travelers, the airline predominantly specializes in short-haul, leisure flights operated with a simple cabin configuration in a point-to-point network. In early 2026, Southwest modified its cabins to offer some rows with extra legroom, its ticketing process and merchandising to offer assigned seats, and more fare categories to include a basic economy class that appears for the first time in travel aggregators' search results and more directly competes with other airlines' offerings.

Southwest Airlines is the largest domestic air carrier in the United States by passengers boarded. Southwest operates nearly 800 aircraft in an all-Boeing 737 fleet. Despite offering some longer routes and a few perks for business travelers, the airline predominantly specializes in short-haul, leisure flights operated with a simple cabin configuration in a point-to-point network. In early 2026, Southwest modified its cabins to offer some rows with extra legroom, its ticketing process and merchandising to offer assigned seats, and more fare categories to include a basic economy class that appears for the first time in travel aggregators' search results and more directly competes with other airlines' offerings.

Southwest Airlines is a low-fare, low-cost airline based in Dallas. It has more than 56,000 employees and serves 103 destinations in the U.S. and 10 other countries. Its fleet is comprised mainly of Boeing 737s. The company has approximately 750 aircraft, making it the world's largest operator of single-aisle planes.

The major indices are slightly lower at midday. Initial jobless claims edged higher last week but remain in a benign area at 214,000. Earnings reports continue to flow in and are the main catalysts for share-price movements in individual names, at least for now. But suffice it to say, the newsflow out of the Middle East remains a wildcard that could impact stocks in a broader fashion at any time. Crude oil is at $94 per barrel, the yield on the 10-year note is at 4.29%, and the VIX volatility index is holding steady at 19.