What's going on?

Things are headed in the wrong direction for Southwest Airlines: the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max has continued to take its toll on the carrier, which on Thursday announced a more-than 20% drop in profit last quarter.

What does this mean?

Southwest Airlines � which has more Boeing 737 Max planes in its fleet than any of its rivals � saw its expenses surge in 2019 as it tried to cover its costs with fewer passengers to its name. And while the carrier might’ve reported better-than-expected earnings on Thursday, it still lost over $800 million in profit from the grounding overall.

And the company’s not in the clear yet. Southwest has previously announced an agreement with Boeing to be compensated for last year�s financial damages, but this year�s are still up in the air. And given that Boeing doesn�t expect regulators to give the scandal-hit aircraft the okay until the middle of the year, it could be that carriers like Southwest are still out of pocket come peak summer travel season.

Why should I care?

For markets: Earnings delta.
American Airlines also reported earnings on Thursday, and � probably because it has far fewer 737 Max planes in its fleet � the company fared much better. But Delta Air Lines � which doesn�t have any � is in the top spot so far, beating expectations last week. Still, they might all be in the same boat-plane again soon enough: reports of the first US case of a deadly virus originating in China could hit travel demand, regardless of what planes the carriers fly�

The bigger picture: Less revenue turbulence, please.�
Aircraft-maker and Boeing archrival, Airbus, is setting up an exchange to allow carriers to trade �futures� contracts linked to the price of airplane tickets. So just as airlines use oil futures to protect themselves from the ups and downs of fuel costs, they�ll soon be able to do the same with the swings in ticket fares.