Southwest Resumes Multi-Million Pilot Training Center Expansion

Southwest Airlines is back to work on its $13 million expansion of the Leadership Education and Aircrew Development (LEAD) center near Dallas Love Field, Texas, in which construction had been paused due to the pandemic.

The 127,000 square-foot facility is expected to be completed in 2024 and will include an eight-bay flight training center for simulators, classrooms, support rooms and more.

“We need pilots, we need flight attendants, we need ramp staffing, and you need the appropriate amount of buffer in all of those areas until we sort of see our way past Covid and understand what more normalized staffing, more normalized behaviors, more normalized sick leave looks like,” said by then-CEO Gary Kelly to the Dallas Morning News.

Robert Jordan, Southwest's executive vice president for corporate services, has replaced Kelly as the next CEO, starting this month. Kelly will transition to executive chairman.

The company has also made further changes to leadership, announcing several promotions.

Elizabeth Bryant, previously the vice president of Southwest Airlines University (SWA U), is now the senior vice president of people, learning and development. This promotion is the first step to bringing together the efforts of the company's People Department and SWA U. Together, People and SWA U are charged with effective and timely hiring, training, and the long-term development and care of the People of Southwest Airlines, including the critical responsibility for onboarding the thousands of new Employees the airline is actively hiring. Since joining Southwest Airlines, she has served in several leadership roles: Director of Leadership Development, Senior Director of Talent Development, Managing Director of Operational Training, and Vice President of Southwest Airlines University.

Justin Rucker, previously the senior director for technical operations planning, is now the vice president of tech ops planning and performance. He will now lead strategic planning and heavy maintenance planning, maintenance reliability, training, contract services, aircraft appearance and business intelligence, supporting the airline's 730 Boeing 737 aircraft.