Southwest Airlines Co. /zigman2/quotes/201071949/composite LUV -0.80% Chief Executive Gary Kelly told the airline's employees that he will take a 10% pay cut, as the company faces the worst downturn in decades as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal . Southwest's stock rose 2.7% in premarket trading, after falling 4.6% on Monday. Kelly said the situation was resulting in a "financial crisis" for Southwest and a "severe recession" for the airline industry, the report said, citing a video message to employees that the newspaper reviewed. Last week, Southwest had said the COVID-19 outbreak could reduce first-quarter operating revenue by up to $300 million. Kelly's comments Tuesday come as several airlines warned of significant impacts to operations from the COVID-19 outbreak, including announcements from Delta Air Lines Inc. /zigman2/quotes/200327741/composite DAL -1.65% , Spirit Airlines Inc. /zigman2/quotes/205782179/composite SAVE +0.73% , American Airlines Group Inc. /zigman2/quotes/209207041/composite AAL -0.06% , Qantas Airways Ltd. /zigman2/quotes/205534063/delayed AU:QAN 0.00% and Air France-KLM /zigman2/quotes/205396176/delayed FR:AF -2.47% /zigman2/quotes/209433148/delayed AFRAF -1.46% .




















