Southwest cancels 2000 flights through weekend

Published on : Monday, October 11, 2021

Southwest airlines cancelled more than 2,000 flights Friday through Sunday causing mass disruption for all passengers. The world’s largest low-cost carrier cancelled three of every 10 departures it had scheduled on Sunday and the disruption continued into Monday, a federal holiday, with 337 flights or about one in 10 cancelled so far.

The company blamed the cancellations on air traffic control problems and limited staffing in Florida as well as bad weather. It said in a statement that getting operations back to normal was “more difficult and prolonged” because of schedule and staffing reductions made during the pandemic.

The airline mentioned that it continued diligent work throughout the weekend to reset operations with a focus on getting aircraft and crews repositioned to take care of customers. It also said that the Federal Aviation Administration said there have been no air traffic related cancellations since Friday. The agency said that airlines are experiencing delays because of aircraft and crews being out of place.

The FAA mentioned that flight delays and cancellations occurred for a few hours Friday afternoon due to widespread severe weather, military training and limited staffing in one area of the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center. However, other airlines did not appear to be as severely impacted by these issues. On Sunday, American Airlines cancelled 2% of its flights and low-budget Spirit Airlines also canceled 2% flights.

Southwest canceled 808 flights on Saturday, stranding thousands of passengers across the country. Last week, the airline announced a vaccine mandate for employees, fueling speculation that the weekend delays may have been caused by a pilot walk-out. Gary Kelly, Chairman and CEO, Southwest Airlines said in a statement that the carrier must join our industry peers in complying with the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination directive.

He encouraged all Southwest Employees to meet the federal directive, as quickly as possible, since every individual is valued and want to ensure job security for all.

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association claimed the cancellations were due to “management’s poor planning.” The airline said the modified schedule affected operations this weekend. It said that with fewer frequencies between cities in current schedule, recovering during operational challenges is more difficult and prolonged.

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