Aug 14 (Reuters) - Elliott Investment Management reduced its

stake in Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) by 19.9% in the second

quarter, according to an SEC filing on Friday, marking its

second reduction this year.

The activist investor now owns 24.3 million shares of

Southwest ( LUV ). It cut its stake by 40.6% to 30.3 million shares

during the first quarter.

The pullback comes after two Elliott-backed directors -

David Cush, former CEO of Virgin America, and Gregg Saretsky,

former CEO of WestJet - stepped down from Southwest's ( LUV ) board in

February.

Elliott in June 2024 launched a campaign against Southwest ( LUV ),

pressing for leadership and board changes at the Dallas-based

airline. The two sides reached a settlement in October 2024,

under which Southwest ( LUV ) added five Elliott nominees to its board.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini

Ganguli)