On Thursday, April 25, the airline announced it would cease operations at four airports and cut 2,000 jobs after it reported a net loss of $231 million—$0.39 loss per diluted share—in the first quarter of 2024, despite record first-quarter revenue of $6.3 billion, up 11 percent from the same period last year. The changes have been put down to financial issues caused by the ongoing problems at aircraft manufacturer Boeing, leading to a hiring freeze and major operational changes.

Despite highlighting some successes during the first quarter of the year, chief executive Bob Jordan admitted the company requires serious changes to push it through the difficult period.

"While it is disappointing to incur a first quarter loss, we exited the quarter with healthy profits and margins in the month of March," Jordan said in a statement on Thursday. "We are focused on controlling what we can control and have already taken swift action to address our financial underperformance and adjust for revised aircraft delivery expectations."

The Boeing Issue

The blame has been largely laid on Boeing, with problems highlighted following a midair door blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight in early January.

Since then, the manufacturer has been placed under intense scrutiny over the safety record of its 737 MAX 9 planes, including an federally mandated grounding of all MAX 9 aircraft for several weeks, delay to the certification of two new models of the plane, and an audit by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which found the plane's production process was plagued with issues. Newsweek has contacted Boeing via email for comment outside of normal working hours.