Elliott Investment Management L.P., the activist investor that forced Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field) into several business model changes in 2024 and 2025, has reduced its ownership in the carrier to 13.1%.

In a filing lodged with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Elliott said that while it had reduced its stake, it would remain “a significant shareholder based on the confidence that [the airline’s] execution of ongoing strategic initiatives will translate into greater profitability, accretive capital-allocation opportunities, and shareholder value creation.”

At its peak, Elliott held a 16% interest in Southwest in early October 2025, and had the option to raise this. According to the SEC filing, it holds 3.2% of the shares of common stock in cash. According to specialised financial media, the remaining 9.9%, representing 51.1 million shares, is now below the 10% threshold necessary to call for a special shareholders' meeting, something it has done in the past, when it was seeking sweeping changes in the US carrier.

The activist investor had believed Southwest was not providing enough value to stakeholders and that it should revamp its business model, moving away from decades-long established practices such as unassigned all-economy class seats.

Over the last year, the airline has implemented new initiatives, in what chief executive Bob Jordan called “the most significant transformation” in the company’s history, such as red-eye flights and new seating. It has also downsized its corporate structure, and has toyed with the idea of launching long-haul international operations and ordering aircraft that are not in the Boeing B737 family.

Up to the end of the third quarter of 2025, Southwest Airlines had posted total operating profit of USD20.6 billion, with a net income worth USD118 million, according to its financial data.

ch-aviation reached out to Southwest for comment, but the airline declined.