Southwest Airlines (LUV) Operating Margin (2009 - 2026)
Southwest Airlines (LUV) reported Operating Margin of 4.50% for Q3 2026, up 4.00 percentage points from 0.50% a year earlier and up 1.12 percentage points from the prior quarter.
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Analysis
Southwest Airlines (LUV) Operating Margin (2009 - 2026) Analysis & Trends
Over the twelve months ended Sep 30, 2026, Southwest Airlines' Operating Margin came in at 4.39%, up 3.25 percentage points year-over-year; for FY2025, it came in at 1.53%, up 0.36 percentage points from FY2024.
- Operating Margin has a five-year change of +43.70 percentage points (FY2020 to FY2025).
- By year, Operating Margin came in at 1.17% in FY2024 (+0.31 pp), 0.86% in FY2023 (-3.41 pp), 4.27% in FY2022 (-6.63 pp) and 10.90% in FY2021 (+53.07 pp).
- Five-year quarterly Operating Margin spans a low of -6.24% in Q4 2022 and a high of 17.21% in Q2 2022.
- Year over year, Operating Margin has now increased in each of the last four quarters, with an average year-over-year change of +2.98 percentage points over the last eight quarters.
- The high point for year-over-year Operating Margin in five years was Q4 2021 (a gain of 61.93 percentage points); the low point was Q1 2022 (a drop of 12.91 percentage points).
- Per Business Quant data, the three quarters before Q3 2026 came in at 3.38% (Q2 2026), 4.55% (Q1 2026) and 5.25% (Q4 2025).
Peer Set
Peer Comparison
| # | Company | Market Cap | Enterprise Value | Gross Profit (Qtr) | Operating Margin (Qtr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Union Pacific | 172.47 Bn | 164.72 Bn | - | 40.89% |
| 2 | United Parcel Service | 92.24 Bn | 69.07 Bn | - | 7.63% |
| 3 | Csx | 90.81 Bn | 86.03 Bn | - | 39.08% |
| 4 | Canadian Pacific Kansas City | 81.61 Bn | 80.64 Bn | - | 35.25% |
| 5 | Fedex | 72.98 Bn | 39.17 Bn | - | 6.20% |
| 6 | Norfolk Southern | 71.87 Bn | 66.34 Bn | - | 32.61% |
| 7 | Delta Air Lines | 57.23 Bn | 39.41 Bn | - | 7.20% |
| 8 | United Airlines Holdings | 36.65 Bn | -21.05 Bn | - | 8.09% |
| 9 | Old Dominion Freight Line | 34.12 Bn | 32.96 Bn | - | 28.46% |
| 10 | Southwest Airlines | 21.75 Bn | 7.77 Bn | - | 4.50% |
Historic Data
Download Data
Historic Data
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2026 | 4.50% |
| Jun 30, 2026 | 3.38% |
| Mar 31, 2026 | 4.55% |
| Dec 31, 2025 | 5.25% |
| Sep 30, 2025 | 0.50% |
| Jun 30, 2025 | 3.11% |
| Mar 31, 2025 | -3.47% |
| Dec 31, 2024 | 4.01% |
| Sep 30, 2024 | 0.55% |
| Jun 30, 2024 | 5.41% |
| Mar 31, 2024 | -6.21% |
| Dec 31, 2023 | -5.92% |
| Sep 30, 2023 | 1.79% |
| Jun 30, 2023 | 11.30% |
| Mar 31, 2023 | -4.98% |
| Dec 31, 2022 | -6.24% |
| Sep 30, 2022 | 6.35% |
| Jun 30, 2022 | 17.21% |
| Mar 31, 2022 | -3.22% |
| Dec 31, 2021 | 3.86% |
API Access
Southwest Airlines Operating Margin API
Pull this series into your own models, spreadsheets and apps with the Business Quant
Historical Metrics API. The request below matches the chart above — change the
frequency, period or values and it follows. Swap YOUR_API_KEY for your own key.
https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=operating-margin&ticker=LUV&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEYimport requests
url = "https://data.businessquant.com/historic"
params = {"slug": "operating-margin", "ticker": "LUV", "period": "max", "api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
data = requests.get(url, params=params).json()const res = await fetch("https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=operating-margin&ticker=LUV&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY");
const data = await res.json();