SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Following an earlier announcement in February about impending layoffs, Southwest Airlines confirmed it is cutting skycaps out of its workforce at San Diego International Airport (SAN).
Skycaps are employees who serve in various airport roles, including handling luggage, offering curbside check-in, and assisting people with general airport navigation.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Southwest Airlines said the company had notified its skycaps at SAN and nine other locations back in February that it would be “contracting out that service.”
Their work will be replaced by kiosk machines and a third-party vendor after their employment ends later this week.
“The gap in notification to separation was to give the Employees a chance to apply with the vendor,” said the spokesperson for the airline. “We currently have 52 Skycap locations across our network and those 10 were the only locations operated by SWA Employees.”
He did not specify the exact number of employees affected by the end of the skycap service at SAN or the nine other locations affected.
Earlier, in February, the company stated it planned to lay off around 1,750 people nationwide in an effort to save $210 million in this year’s budget and $300 million in 2026.
At the time, CEO Bob Jordan said the layoffs would primarily impact Southwest’s corporate workforce.
Southwest Airlines is San Diego’s largest carrier for air travel in terms of volume of passengers and number of overall flights.
