Southwest Airlines LUV
Elliott nominates David Cush, former Virgin America CEO, to Southwest's board as part of an eight-director slate to restore the airline's operational and financial performance.
Thesis
This EX-99.1 DFAN14A filing bundles promotional materials for Episode 2 of Elliott's 'Stronger Southwest' podcast, featuring director nominee David Cush, former CEO of Virgin America, as part of Elliott's proxy campaign at Southwest Airlines (LUV). The package covers Simplecast, Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts episode pages; a Facebook post on Episode 1 (Gregg Saretsky); a subscriber email; the strongersouthwest.com podcast and nominee pages; and the full Cush transcript. Cush's pitch: Southwest's culture and low-cost point-to-point structure are intact, but the airline has not modernized its product and has let operations and financials slip. His Virgin America track record — first profit, IPO, sale to Alaska, and 148% TSR — is offered as evidence that an airline operator with American Airlines roots can help restore Southwest's industry-leading position. Elliott discloses ~11.0% combined economic exposure and is soliciting GOLD proxy cards for an eight-director slate.
SCQA
Southwest Airlines is the iconic U.S. low-cost carrier, built on point-to-point flying, a single-fleet model, and a strong employee culture that democratized air travel.
Operational and financial performance have slipped and the airline has not modernized its product (e.g., unbundling, in-flight tech); the incumbent board lacks independent airline-operator expertise to drive change.
Vote the GOLD proxy card to elect Elliott's slate of eight independent director nominees — including David Cush, former Virgin America CEO — at Southwest's special meeting.
Restore Southwest's industry-leading low-cost position by capturing the productivity and financial performance inherent in its structure; Cush's Virgin America tenure delivered 148% TSR as the proof point.
The three reasons
- 1
Cush led Virgin America to first profit, IPO, and sale to Alaska with 148% total shareholder return
- 2
30 years of airline experience: two decades at American Airlines plus nine years as Virgin America CEO
- 3
Southwest's operations and financials have slipped; board needs independent airline operators
Primary demands
- Elect Elliott's eight-nominee director slate via the GOLD proxy card at the Southwest special meeting
- Refresh the board with independent airline-operator expertise (former CEOs/Deputy CEOs, labor, regulatory, consumer-ops talent)
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Precedents cited
- Virgin America under David Cush (first profit, IPO, sold to Alaska with 148% TSR)
- WestJet under Gregg Saretsky (fellow Elliott nominee, featured in Episode 1)
Composition what's on the 24 slides
Slide gallery ·
Notes
EX-99.1 DFAN14A supplementary proxy-solicitation exhibit bundling screenshots of Elliott's 'Stronger Southwest' campaign: Simplecast/Spotify/Apple/YouTube episode pages for Episode 2 (David Cush), a Facebook post on Episode 1 (Gregg Saretsky), a subscriber email, the strongersouthwest.com podcast and nominee pages, and the full Cush episode transcript. Not a thesis deck — promotional content filed as proxy materials. Notable campaign-craft detail: 'Stronger Southwest' appropriates Southwest's own red/yellow/blue tail livery as its brand system, a rare example of an activist co-opting the target's visual identity. Surface tone is collaborative (praising Southwest's culture and low-cost heritage), while the underlying campaign is an adversarial proxy fight.