(Reuters) – Southwest Airlines Co on Monday forecast lower cash burn in the first quarter and said operating revenue for March and April was expected to improve due to a steady rise in leisure bookings.
The U.S. airline expects average core cash burn to be about $14 million per day in the first quarter, compared with its previous forecast of about $15 million.
“The company has continued to experience an improvement in leisure passenger bookings with beach and other nature-inspired destinations continuing to outperform other regions,” Southwest said in a statement.
The airline, however, said business travel continued to significantly lag leisure demand.
Southwest had cash and short-term investments of about $14.4 billion as of March 11.
Shares were up 1.7% at $62.05 in premarket trade.
(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
