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Southwest lands a profit
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October 18, 2001: 9:59 a.m. ET
Discount carrier meets 3Q forecast as only airline to end quarter in the black.
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NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - Southwest Airlines managed to post a third-quarter profit Thursday despite the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, the only major U.S. air carrier that will end the period in the black.
The company warned it is too soon to say whether it will be profitable in the fourth quarter, but said barring any unforeseen events it expects to be profitable for the full year, which again would make it unique among major U.S. airlines.
Shares of Dallas-based Southwest (LUV: down $0.11 to $15.07, Research, Estimates) were slightly lower in early trading Thursday.
The nation's seventh-largest carrier earned $82.8 million, or 10 cents a share, excluding special items related to the attack. That's in line with forecasts of analysts surveyed by First Call, but down from $184.3 billion, or 23 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue fell 9.7 percent to $1.3 billion, which missed the First Call forecast of $1.5 billion.
The special items include a pre-tax charge of $58 million for refunding tickets, write-down of assets, and payments to aircraft maker Boeing Co. to delay delivery of firm orders for 737 planes. Special items also include $169 million in federal assistance the company received as part of a federal bailout of the airline industry. Including both those items the company posted net income of $151 million, or 19 cents a diluted share, for the quarter. The company said it expects another $120 million of federal assistance during the fourth quarter.
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Southwest is the only major carrier that has not announced job cuts, although the carriers' top executives and board members have given up their pay for the remainder of the year. 
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