401(k) · DOL Form 5500 · 2024

Southwest Airlines Company 401(k) Plan

Data updated 2026-08-25

$11.6B
Total assets Mega-plan scale
11,242
Participants Very large workforce
100th
Percentile by assets National rank
$1.0M
Avg per participant High balance/head
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Official DOL plan name: Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan · Sponsored by Southwest Airlines Company · Texas · Transportation & Warehousing

$11.6B in assets, 11,242 participants

Southwest Airlines Company's Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan reported $11.6B in total assets and 11,242 participants in its 2024 DOL Form 5500 filing, ranking in the 100th percentile by assets among filed plans. Figures are as reported by the plan sponsor to the Department of Labor, not audited or endorsed by PlainRetire.

  • #3,286 in Transportation & Warehousing (3,299 peers)

Coverage in Texas

Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan covers 11,242 participants in Texas, 16x the typical Texas plan (state average ~688 per filing). Assets: $11.6B.

#3,286
in Transportation & Warehousing (3,299 peers)
+27.1%
assets growth YoY
117×
vs typical plan assets (national mean)

Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan's outsized position by total assets

Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan vs every filed plan by assets

End-of-year total assets · plan year 2024 · DOL Form 5500

$11,622,763,375 Highest reported value at or above every one of 123,620 filed plans

This plan $0 $2,050,000,000 every filed plan with reported assets, bucketed by value

Dashed line + filled bar = this entry, among filed plans.

Source U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings (EBSA) · plan year 2024

Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan's mega-plan peer group by participant headcount

Plan-year 2024 Form 5500 filings with a reported participant count, partitioned by headcount band, not by assets. Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan is a mega filing (11,242 participants), the rightmost band on the breakdown.

What changed between DOL Form 5500 filings

plan year 2023 → plan year 2024

  • Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan end-of-year assets rose from $9.1B in the plan year 2023 filing to $11.6B in the plan year 2024 filing.
  • Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan reported participants rose from 9,726 in the plan year 2023 filing to 11,242 in the plan year 2024 filing.
  • Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan reported net income rose from $1.6B in the plan year 2023 filing to $1.8B in the plan year 2024 filing.

See the national 2023→2024 release diff →

Published 5500 schedule card

Filing strip 741563240 · Southwest Airlines Company PY 2024 · 401(k)

Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan · $11.6B · 11,242 · 100th

  • BOOK $11.6B
  • VS-ST 11,242
  • BOY 100th
  • SCH 401(k)
  • EBSA near Bristol-Myers Squibb Savings and Investment Program
  • PART ind #3286

Stamps derive from this plan's Form 5500 line items (assets, participants, type, EIN, cohort placement) - not a quality rating of the sponsor. Read with Transportation & Warehousing retirement plans → · Plans in Texas →

Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan in the asset neighbourhood

Leidos, Inc. Retirement Plan$11.8BMarriott Retirement Savings PlanMarriott Retirement Savings …$11.7BSouthwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings PlanSouthwest Airlines Pilots Re…$11.6BBristol-Myers Squibb Savings and Investment ProgramBristol-Myers Squibb Savings…$11.6BThe Progressive 401(k) Plan$11.5B
End-of-year total assets ($B) among Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan and nearest nationwide 401(k) peers. Source: DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024.

Texas filing particulars

Total Assets (Beginning of Year)$9.1B
Net Assets (End of Year)$11.6B
Net Income$1.8B
Employer EIN741563240
Plan Effective Date1986-01-01
Filing StatusFILING RECEIVED

Sponsor Plan History (Southwest Airlines Company)

Sponsor-wide plan assets over time

All Southwest Airlines Company plans reported in each filing year

Latest sponsor-wide plan assets
$28.7B 37.33380234491332% vs 2022
2024 filing year
$20B$25B$30B 202220232024 $20.9B $28.7B ▲ +37.3%
Year Plans Participants Total Assets
2022 3 120,230 $20.9B
2023 3 141,844 $24.8B
2024 4 168,461 $28.7B

Nearby 401(k) Plans in Texas

Peer 401(k) plans, same state, same plan type, ranked by total assets.

Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan vs. nearby 401(k) plans in Texas, assets vs. participants Scatter plot of 6 data points. 050000100000150000 1020304050 Total assets ($B) Participants Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan, Total assets ($B): 11.622763375 · Participants: 11242Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings PlanAT&T Retirement Savings Plan, Total assets ($B): 43.121795 · Participants: 109889AT&T Retirement Savings PlanExxonmobil Savings Plan, Total assets ($B): 23.711 · Participants: 21990Exxonmobil Savings PlanChevron Employee Savings Investment Plan, Total assets ($B): 20.378704663 · Participants: 21505Chevron Employee Savings Investment PlanCaterpillar 401(k) Savings Plan, Total assets ($B): 18.81200478 · Participants: 43873Caterpillar 401(k) Savings PlanSouthwest Airlines Co. Retirement Savings Plan, Total assets ($B): 16.991748637 · Participants: 67820Southwest Airlines Co. Retirement Savings Plan
Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan vs. nearby 401(k) plans in Texas, assets vs. participants
Compare Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan side-by-side with 3 peers →

Scale composition for Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan

Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan reports $11.6B in end-of-year assets across 11,242 participants (0.094% of the $12.3T held by all Form 5500 filers in the national rollup , and 0.012% of 93,925,755 covered participants) - about $1.0M per participant (7.5x the national average assets-per-participant) . Net income for plan year 2024 was $1.8B.

This plan identity (EIN 741563240, plan #003) has 3 Form 5500 filings on file from 2022 to 2024 , with end-of-year assets moving from $7.6B to $11.6B (+53.3%) while covered participants moved from 9,186 to 11,242 . Single-year sparse filers cannot show that trail.

Plan year Participants EOY assets Filing
2022 9,186 $7.6B Open filing
2023 9,726 $9.1B Open filing
2024 · index core 11,242 $11.6B This page

The same sponsor also keeps 2 other index-core plans on PlainRetire:

Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan's out-of-state 401(k) peers by assets and headcount

Outside Texas, the nearest 401(k) by assets is Bristol-Myers Squibb Savings and Investment Program in NJ ($11.6B); by covered participants it is New York Life Insurance Company Agents Progress- Sharing Investment Plan in NY (11,238 participants). Same-state nearby plans are listed separately above.

Closest by plan assets

Nearest other-state filings by tot_assets_eoy ($11.6B here).

Similar participant headcount

Nearest other-state filings by covered participants (11,242 participants); asset peers above are excluded.

DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024. Asset totals can differ widely at the same headcount; neither axis is a quality rating.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan assets move in 2024? ▼
Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan grew sharply - up 27.1% during 2024, from $9.1B to $11.6B. Reported net income was $1.8B.
How have Southwest Airlines Company plan assets changed over time? ▼
Across 3 plan years on file (2022-2024), Southwest Airlines Company's sponsor-wide assets grew 37.3%, from $20.9B to $28.7B.
Where does Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan rank by assets among Form 5500 filers? ▼
Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan ranks in the 100th percentile by end-of-year assets among 123,622 plans that reported assets for plan year 2024 (among the largest 1% of all filed plans).
Which 401(k) plans are similar in size to Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan? ▼
Among 401(k) plans in other states, the closest by assets is Bristol-Myers Squibb Savings and Investment Program in NJ ($11.6B, 21,763 participants).
Which 401(k) plans cover a similar participant headcount to Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan? ▼
Among 401(k) plans in other states, the closest by covered participants is New York Life Insurance Company Agents Progress- Sharing Investment Plan in NY (11,238 participants, $1.2B in assets).

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Plan year 2024.

Source: DOL EFAST2 filing system (efast.dol.gov) - original filing retrieval by EIN 741563240.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings (EBSA). See our methodology for details.