Southwest Airlines (LUV) Q1 FY2026 earnings: revenue $7.2 billion, up 12.8% on the year

Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) reported revenue of $7.2 billion for Q1 FY2026, the quarter ended 31 March 2026, up 12.8% on the same quarter a year earlier. Net income was $227 million, and diluted earnings per share $0.45. The figures are the company's own, from the 10-Q it filed with the SEC on 23 April 2026.

Revenue

$7.2 billion

+12.8% on the year · -2.6% on the quarter

Q2 FY2024Q1 FY2026

Operating margin

4.6%

-3.5% a year earlier

Q2 FY2024Q1 FY2026

Net income

$227 million

-29.7% on the quarter

Q2 FY2024Q1 FY2026

Diluted EPS

$0.45

-26.2% on the quarter

Q2 FY2024Q1 FY2026

this quarterthe same quarter a year earlierHover a bar for its figure.

What management said

Guidance figures: 1 narrowed, 6 new, 1 kept.

Net income and EPS reported: Net income was $227 million, or $0.45 diluted EPS, against a net loss of $149 million in the first quarter of 2025. Operating income was $330 million, compared with a loss of $223 million.
Operating margin improved 8.1 points: Operating margin was 4.6%, an 8.1-point improvement year-over-year. Excluding special items, the improvement was 6.6 points, with the prior-year margin shown as negative 2.0%.
RASM rose 11.2%, above guidance: RASM increased 11.2%, above prior guidance, which management attributed to initiative contributions and broad-based demand across the network. Passenger yield rose 11.5% to 21.16 cents per RPM.

Read the earnings call summary

Income statement (profit and loss)

$ million	Q1 FY2026	Q4 FY2025	Q1 FY2025	On the quarter	On the year
Revenue	7,249	7,442	6,428	-2.6%	+12.8%
Operating income	330	391	-223	-15.6%
Operating margin	4.6%	5.3%	-3.5%
Interest expense	54.0	47.0	46.0	+14.9%	+17.4%
Pre-tax income	285	407	-192	-30.0%
Income tax	58.0	84.0	-43.0	-31.0%
Effective tax rate	20.4%	20.6%	n/a
Net income	227	323	-149	-29.7%
Net margin	3.1%	4.3%	-2.3%
Diluted EPS	$0.45	$0.61	-$0.26	-26.2%

$ million except per share.

Fourth quarters are the year less the first three quarters. Free cash flow is operating cash flow less capital expenditure; the effective tax rate is income tax over pre-tax income; margins are the line over revenue. Gross profit is revenue less cost of revenue, and operating income is revenue less the company's own total costs, where the statement does not print those lines. Those four are arithmetic on the filed numbers; everything else is as filed. Money is in $ million as the company files it, or in $ billion by the switch above the tables; per share figures and share counts are as they are.

Cash flow

$ million	Q1 FY2026	Q4 FY2025	Q1 FY2025	On the quarter	On the year
Operating cash flow	1,418	294	860	+382.3%	+64.9%
Capital expenditure	630	859	501	-26.7%	+25.7%
Free cash flow	788	-565	359		+119.5%
Free cash flow margin	10.9%	-7.6%	5.6%
Cash from investing	-445	-742	623
Cash from financing	-876	777	-858
Depreciation and amortisation	398	370	396	+7.6%	+0.5%
Buybacks	1,250	50.0	750	+2,400.0%	+66.7%
Dividends paid	93.0	0.0	107		-13.1%
Dividend per share	$0.18	n/a	$0.18		0.0%
Diluted shares, weighted	503m	521m	584m	-3.5%	-13.9%
Shares outstanding at period end	489m	491m	570m	-0.5%	-14.2%

Cash flow lines for the quarter; where the company files them year to date, the quarter is the difference between two filings.

Balance sheet

$ million	Q1 FY2026	Q4 FY2025	Q1 FY2025	On the quarter	On the year
Shareholders' equity	6,875	7,981	9,365	-13.9%	-26.6%
Debt	5,387	4,929	6,694	+9.3%	-19.5%
Operating lease liabilities	709	768	970	-7.7%	-26.9%
Finance lease liabilities	n/a	53.0	n/a
Other liabilities	16,384	15,330	16,183	+6.9%	+1.2%
Total liabilities and equity	29,355	29,061	33,212	+1.0%	-11.6%
Fixed assets	20,376	20,245	19,157	+0.6%	+6.4%
Goodwill	970	970	970	0.0%	0.0%
Intangible assets	296	296	299	0.0%	-1.0%
Investments	n/a	0.0	118
Cash and equivalents	3,328	3,231	8,134	+3.0%	-59.1%
Receivables	171	98.0	47.0	+74.5%	+263.8%
Other assets	4,214	4,221	4,487	-0.2%	-6.1%
Total assets	29,355	29,061	33,212	+1.0%	-11.6%

Questions

What was Southwest Airlines' revenue in Q1 FY2026?

Southwest Airlines (LUV) reported revenue of $7.2 billion for Q1 FY2026, the quarter ended 31 March 2026, up 12.8% on the same quarter a year earlier.

How much did Southwest Airlines earn in Q1 FY2026?

Net income for Q1 FY2026 was $227 million, and diluted earnings per share $0.45.

When did Southwest Airlines report Q1 FY2026 results?

Southwest Airlines filed its 10-Q for the quarter ended 31 March 2026 with the SEC on 23 April 2026.

Quarterly results, the last 20 quarters

	Q4 FY2021 *	Q1 FY2022	Q2 FY2022	Q3 FY2022	Q4 FY2022 *	Q1 FY2023	Q2 FY2023	Q3 FY2023	Q4 FY2023 *	Q1 FY2024	Q2 FY2024	Q3 FY2024	Q4 FY2024 *	Q1 FY2025	Q2 FY2025	Q3 FY2025	Q4 FY2025 *	Q1 FY2026	Q2 FY2026	Q3 FY2026
Revenue	5,051	4,694	6,728	6,220	6,172	5,706	7,037	6,525	6,823	6,329	7,354	6,870	6,930	6,428	7,244	6,949	7,442	7,249	8,432	8,422
Operating income	195	-151	1,158	395	-385	-284	795	117	-404	-393	398	38.0	278	-223	225	35.0	391	330	285	379
Operating margin	4%	-3%	17%	6%	-6%	-5%	11%	2%	-6%	-6%	5%	1%	4%	-3%	3%	1%	5%	5%	3%	5%
Interest expense	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	65.0	63.0	n/a	65.0	63.0	63.0	58.0	46.0	39.0	35.0	47.0	54.0	64.0	70.0
Pre-tax income	77.0	-376	1,036	353	-285	-205	886	237	-285	-298	478	89.0	329	-192	280	68.0	407	285	306	355
Tax rate	13%	n/a	27%	22%	n/a	n/a	23%	19%	n/a	n/a	23%	25%	20%	n/a	24%	21%	21%	20%	24%	24%
Net income	67.0	-278	760	277	-220	-159	683	193	-252	-231	367	67.0	262	-149	213	54.0	323	227	233	270
Net margin	1%	-6%	11%	4%	-4%	-3%	10%	3%	-4%	-4%	5%	1%	4%	-2%	3%	1%	4%	3%	3%	3%
Diluted EPS	$0.12	-$0.47	$1.20	$0.44	-$0.37	-$0.27	$1.08	$0.31	-$0.37	-$0.39	$0.58	$0.11	$0.42	-$0.26	$0.39	$0.10	$0.61	$0.45	$0.47	$0.55
Operating cash flow	247	1,071	1,906	234	579	706	1,416	616	426	-104	-23.0	113	476	860	401	287	294	1,418	530	513
Capital expenditure	180	510	987	1,072	1,355	1,046	925	842	707	583	494	517	460	501	635	678	859	630	818	1,006
Free cash flow	67.0	561	919	-838	-776	-340	491	-226	-281	-687	-517	-404	16.0	359	-234	-391	-565	788	-288	-493
Buybacks	0.0	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	0.0	0.0	0.0	250	750	1,500	250	50.0	1,250	0.0	0.0
Dividends paid	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	214	0.0	214	0.0	215	0.0	216	-1.0	107	103	189	0.0	93.0	88.0	176
Shares outstanding	592m	593m	593m	594m	594m	595m	596m	596m	597m	598m	599m	600m	593m	570m	525m	517m	491m	489m	489m	490m
Filing	10-K	10-Q	10-Q	10-Q	10-K	10-Q	10-Q	10-Q	10-K	10-Q	10-Q	10-Q	10-K	10-Q	10-Q	10-Q	10-K	10-Q	10-Q	10-Q

Each quarter as filed, linked to its filing.

* The fourth quarter is the full year less the first three quarters, because the company files the year and not the quarter on its own. A fourth quarter's EPS, and its diluted share count where shown, are from the company's results press release for that quarter, checked against the company's filed figures or a second data source. Money is in $ million as the company files it, or in $ billion by the switch above the tables; per share figures and the share count are as they are. Free cash flow is operating cash flow less capital expenditure; the effective tax rate is income tax over pre-tax income; margins are the line over revenue. Gross profit is revenue less cost of revenue, and operating income is revenue less the company's own total costs, where the statement does not print those lines. Cash flow lines filed year to date are the difference between two filings. Shares outstanding are at the period end where the balance sheet tags them, otherwise the count on the filing's cover page. A derived fourth-quarter EPS is left blank when a split in the year makes the arithmetic meaningless.

10-Q for the period ended 31 March 2026, filed 23 April 2026: the filing.