New York, Oct. 11 (BUS): Southwest Airlines has canceled hundreds of flights over the weekend, blaming the problems on air traffic control and weather issues.
The airline has canceled more than 1,000 flights in total, or 29% of its schedule, as of 7 p.m. ET Sunday, according to flight tracker FlightAware. This was the highest rate to date for the major US airlines. Followed by Allegiant, which canceled 6% of its flights. American Airlines canceled 5% of its flights, while Spirit canceled 4% on Sunday, according to the flight tracker. On Saturday, Southwest Airlines canceled more than 800 flights.
Southwest Airlines said in an emailed statement that it faced weather challenges at Florida airports at the start of the weekend, which were exacerbated by unexpected air traffic control issues in the same area. Those issues caused delays and prompted massive airline cancellations as of Friday evening, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
“We continued to work diligently throughout the weekend to reset our operations with a focus on resetting aircraft and crews to take care of our customers,” Southwest Airlines said. “With fewer intercity frequencies in our current schedule, recovery during operational challenges is more difficult and protracted.”
The company said it’s allowing customers to explore self-service rebooking options on Southwest.com, where they can get updates on their travel status.
However, Henry H. Harteveldt, president and travel industry analyst at The Atmosphere Research Group, based in San Francisco, points to other reasons for the cancellation.
First, he said Southwest has capped more flights than it can handle, a problem that began in June. He also noted that Southwest operates what’s known as a point-to-point route network, and when a delay occurs, it “scales” along the remaining segments of the flight. That’s because, for example, a Southwest flight departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the airline’s main headquarters in Dallas, might have multiple stops along the way.
But Hartfeldt says the most troubling reason is the possibility that some pilots who oppose Southwest’s decision to force COVID-19 vaccinations will engage in illegal occupational work where they elicit disease or engage in a “slowdown.”
In a statement on Saturday, Southwest Airlines’ union of pilots said that was not the case.
“SWAPA is aware of the operational difficulties affecting Southwest Airlines today due to a number of issues, but we can say with confidence that our pilots are not involved in any formal or informal operational procedures,” she added.
Hartfeldt noted that Southwest’s problems could continue and affect fourth-quarter financial performance.
“It’s all happening because people are in the midst of booking their travel for Thanksgiving and the Christmas/New Year holidays,” he said. “It is very likely that some people who would normally book in Southwest will see this news and choose to fly to other airlines.”
RAE