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XPO, Southwest Airlines cutting jobs in Texas

Up to 186 positions will be eliminated in Lancaster, Houston and Dallas

Southwest Airlines mechanics work inside the carrier’s hangar at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. More than 400 Southwest mechanics were warned about possible furloughs. (Photo: Southwest)

XPO Logistics and Southwest Airlines announced this week they could eliminate as many as 186 jobs in Texas, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice filed with the state.

XPO Logistics (NYSE:XPO) said it could be cutting up to 53 jobs at its distribution center (DC) in Lancaster, Texas, after one of its customers announced it would be “making a business model change.”

“The consolidation will result in the customer absorbing the work currently performed by XPO at 2935 Danieldale Road in Lancaster. XPO and our customer have agreed to transition the work and terminate the current contract between the companies effective Jan. 10,” XPO said in its filing.

Although the customer is not mentioned by name in the filing, Swedish appliance maker Electrolux AB (STO:ELUXB) is listed as the operator of the DC in Lancaster. In September 2019, Electrolux announced it would be eliminating 1,700 jobs globally due to increased raw material and tariff costs.


Greenwich, Connecticut-based XPO Logistics said its customer would be continuing operations at the DC and the “customer may offer continued employment to our current employees.”

XPO said, “In the event our customer is unable to hire any or all of our affected employees, we will work to place many of these displaced employees at other XPO operations in the Lancaster area,” 

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) sent WARN Act notices Wednesday to 1,503 employees, including 402 workers represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, that their positions could be furloughed.

Southwest told mechanics and other employees that they could be furloughed in January as the carrier tries to negotiate cost cuts with union groups.


“The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated domestic air travel and tourism. Southwest Airlines has lost billions of dollars in revenues since the pandemic began,” the company said in its filing.

The furloughs could affect as many as 35 Southwest employees at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport and 82 at Dallas Love Field.

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3 Comments

  1. Bob

    It’s too bad Southwest Airlines management actually thinks that its employees believe the sky is falling when they’re sitting on a $14-15 billion war chest. The overstaffing issue was created by management and could have been prevented had they stopped hiring when 737 Max was grounded. The unions are standing united against their scare tactics as they should. Vaccines, the re-certification of the Max and their aggressive expansion in the market are signs that point to bright 2021. Wall Street has been projecting Southwest Airlines will be profitable by the end of Q2. That’s roughly six months of the nearly 50 months of cash it has on hand. Concessions will not prevent furloughs and you know concessions are rarely reversed. Hold the line my union brothers and sisters. #swapa #twu555 #twu550 #twu556 #AMFANational #IAMtransport #southwestair

  2. Tcs53

    The picture is misleading. The job cuts are not coming from the LTL division they are coming from the logistics side of XPO which operates completely separate from LTL

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Noi Mahoney

Noi Mahoney is a Texas-based journalist who covers cross-border trade, logistics and supply chains for FreightWaves. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English in 1998. Mahoney has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working for newspapers in Maryland and Texas. Contact [email protected]