Southwest Airlines Co. LUV
Elliott — ~11% owner of LUV — is running a proxy fight to replace Southwest's board with eight airline-veteran directors and restore the carrier to industry-leading performance.
Thesis
This DFAN14A exhibit packages Elliott's 'Stronger Southwest' campaign launch materials: a new podcast series, updates to StrongerSouthwest.com, and a subscriber email, all dated October 14-15, 2024. Elliott holds approximately 11.0% combined economic exposure in Southwest Airlines (61.1M shares plus 4.8M swap-referenced shares) and has nominated eight independent directors — Cawley, Cush, Feinberg, Gotbaum, Grissen, Milton, Saretsky and Watson — spanning former airline CEOs, a transportation regulator, and hospitality, labor and technology leaders. The website frames a three-step plan: enhance the board, hold leadership accountable, and conduct a comprehensive business review. Episode 1 features a full interview with nominee Gregg Saretsky (former WestJet CEO) who frames Southwest as a fixable turnaround with strong balance sheet and culture but an urgent need for operational modernization driven by a board with real airline experience.
SCQA
Southwest Airlines is a storied U.S. low-cost carrier with strong balance sheet and distinctive culture, but has materially underperformed industry peers over the last two decades on operations and product.
The incumbent board lacks relevant airline operating experience, leaving outdated product, technology gaps and reliability failures unaddressed despite a fundamentally fixable setup.
Vote Elliott's GOLD proxy card at the called special meeting to elect eight airline-veteran independent directors, enhance board composition, and launch a comprehensive business review.
Restore Southwest to industry-leading status — framed as the most compelling airline turnaround opportunity in two decades, with Saretsky's >100% WestJet TSR cited as proof of concept.
The three reasons
- 1
Southwest is the most compelling airline turnaround opportunity of the last two decades
- 2
Eight independent nominees bring former-airline-CEO operating expertise Southwest lacks
- 3
Saretsky's >100% TSR at WestJet using the Southwest formula proves the playbook works
Primary demands
- Elect Elliott's slate of eight independent director nominees on the GOLD proxy card
- Enhance the Board with airline-operator and operational expertise
- Hold leadership accountable for operational and financial underperformance
- Conduct a comprehensive business review of the Company
- Modernize the product offering to align with today's customer preferences
- Invest in technology and assets to restore reliable operations while preserving low fares
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Precedents cited
- WestJet transformation under Gregg Saretsky (>100% TSR, 11.8% ROIC over 8 years)
- Alaska Airlines post-9/11 turnaround (no furloughs, coast-to-coast expansion)
- Canadian Airlines 'Vision 2000' restructuring and Oneworld / American Airlines partnership
Composition what's on the 34 slides
Slide gallery ·
Notes
SEC DFAN14A Exhibit 99.1 compiling Elliott's Oct 14-15, 2024 proxy-campaign outreach: the 'Stronger Southwest' podcast launch (trailer screenshots across Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Simplecast / YouTube + full 18-minute Episode 1 transcript with nominee Gregg Saretsky), a Mailchimp subscriber email, and StrongerSouthwest.com page updates (homepage, nominees grid, podcast page, press-release archive). No original thesis deck, peer-gap chart, SoP, or quantified price target — this document is campaign PR/brand infrastructure filed per proxy-solicitation rules rather than a standalone argument. Notable as a specimen of modern activist campaign craft: dedicated microsite, custom brand identity (riffing on Southwest's heart + color palette), branded podcast series, nominee headshot grid. The Saretsky interview itself is surprisingly collaborative in tone — he positions WestJet-via-Southwest-formula as the template and avoids attacking incumbent Southwest management by name. Underlying campaign is adversarial (full-slate board replacement, special-meeting demand) but these specific artifacts lean educational / trust-building. SCQA and thesis fields reconstruct the campaign argument from contextual signals (website 3-step plan, nominee bios, embedded Anson Partners endorsement) since the filing itself does not re-argue the thesis.