Patrick Reilly
Southwest Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights on Sunday, stranding outraged passengers across the country on a busy three-day Columbus Day Weekend due to air traffic control and weather issues, the airline said.
Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images |
The total cancellations accounted for 28
percent of the airline’s flights as of 5 p.m. Sunday night, marking the highest
cancellation rate of any major US airline by far, according to Flight Aware.
Allegiant and Spirit, both of which had canceled 5 percent and 4 percent, are
next in line.
Southwest said that it had experienced weather issues out of Florida at the beginning of the weekend, compounded by air traffic issues in the surrounding area, triggering a chain reaction of cancellations nationwide.
“We’ve continued diligent work throughout the
weekend to reset our operation with a focus on getting aircraft and crews
repositioned to take care of our customers,” said Southwest Airlines in a
statement Sunday. “With fewer frequencies between cities in our current
schedule, recovering during operational challenges is more difficult and
prolonged.”
The Airline first announced the operational
issues in a tweet on
Saturday.
Henry H. Harteveldt, president and travel
industry analyst at The Atmosphere Research Group, told The Associated Press
that Southwest’s issues could be tied to pilots engaging in a sickout protest
against the airline’s recently announced mask mandate for all staff.
Harteveldt also noted the airline has scheduled more flights than it could handle since June.
Southwest had announced on
Oct. 4 that it
would comply with federal regulations and require all of its employees to be
vaccinated.
ATC issues and disruptive weather have resulted in a high volume of cancellations throughout the weekend while we work to recover our operation. We appreciate your patience as we accommodate affected Customers, and Customer Service wait times are longer than usual. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/o1scQJ5lLb
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 9, 2021
Employees must get vaccinated before Dec. 8 or
face termination. The southern-based airline has approximately 56,000
employees.
The Southwest Airlines Pilot Union responded to what it called “operational
difficulties” on
Saturday, denying it was caused by any formal or informal organization of its
employees.
“SWAPA is aware of operational difficulties
affecting Southwest Airlines today due to a number of issues, but we can say
with confidence that our Pilots are not participating in any official or
unofficial job actions,” the union said.
“Our Pilots will continue to overcome SWA
management’s poor planning, as well as any external operational challenges, and
remain the most productive Pilots in the world. They will continue to be
focused on their highest priority — safety. SWAPA Pilots are true professionals
and will always maintain the highest level of responsibility to their crews,
their passengers, and our airline.”
Patrick Reilly, New
York Post, October 10, 2021 8:52pm
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