Southwest Airlines faces more pressure from activist investor

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is bracing for potential upheaval as Elliott Management, an activist investor group, now holds over 61 million common shares of the airline — 10% of the company’s stock.

Elliott Management is pushing for a special shareholders meeting to effect significant changes at the airline.

The hedge fund seeks to remove Southwest CEO Bob Jordan and Chairman Gary Kelly. Additionally, Elliott plans to nominate 10 candidates for the airline’s 15-member board of directors. The two sides are scheduled to meet on Monday.

In July, Southwest Airlines announced plans to switch to assigned seating and increase the number of red-eye flights. Elliott Management, however, is advocating for further changes and will discuss potential solutions to address the issues that have contributed to a nearly 50% drop in Southwest’s stock value over the past three years during their upcoming meeting.

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