Here's what we know about Southwest Airlines' October meltdown Incoming CEO Bob Jordan says the airline is hiring 5,000 workers this fall and 8,000 next year, most of them to replace workers who took early retirement or extended leaves during the pandemic. For months, it's said it is working on fixes. Southwest isn't alone in struggling during the spike in travel after the COVID-19 vaccines were made widely available. American Airlines had a slew of troubles during Father's Day weekend, and Spirit Airlines had a seven-day string of cancellations in late July and early August that stranded passengers and cost the airline about $50 million.īut Southwest has had more frequent problems, damaging its carefully crafted reputation as a reliable airline. Pilots and flight attendants are only allowed to work a certain number of hours per day due to contract and government rules. "They were just caught in a perfect storm,'' he said, citing staffing levels, weather and flight crews running out of time because of the delays and cancellations. Jon Jager, an analyst with aviation data firm Cirium, said a confluence of events crippled Southwest. "We now know that some of those claims were absolutely false and actually the issues were completely unrelated to vaccine mandates." "I know there was a little hubbub over the course of the last few days about Southwest Airlines," Psaki said during a Tuesday press briefing. White House press secretary Jen Psaki also denied allegations that vaccine mandates affected Southwest flights. "The president of our pilots union has been out talking to the media confirming all of that, so I think people, again, that understand how airlines work, when you get behind, it just takes several days to catch up." and they're all very normal," Kelly said. "We look at all of our employee behaviors in terms of absenteeism. Kelly reiterated that the cancellations were not related to vaccine mandates in a Tuesday interview with CNBC. ►Passport status: Wait times are dropping, but travelers are still waiting months for it "The fact is the Florida weather on Friday and unexpected ATC issues on Friday night resulted in delays and cancellations across our network, and it just got us behind." "It was a very difficult weekend for many of you, and I’ve seen speculation on the reasoning," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly told employees in his first public comments on the meltdown Monday. (The pilots sued the airline to stop the mandate.) Southwest and its pilots union have steadfastly denied that workers walked off the job to protest a federal vaccine mandate. Southwest caters to vacationers, and Florida is a key cog in its operation. The airline blamed air traffic control issues and weather in Florida on Friday, saying the ripple effects put planes and employees out of place, and it had too few reserves to pick up the slack. ►Five-hour wait times, flight shopping and a rental car rush: Southwest cancellations send travelers scrambling ►Come explore with us: Subscribe to our Travel newsletter Monday cancellations were a fraction of weekend levels, but Southwest still led all carriers in cancellations, with more than 350.īy Tuesday morning, cancellations were down to 2% for the day, though still leading other domestic carriers, according to FlightAware, which tracks both cancellations and delays. On Sunday, a busy fall break and holiday weekend travel day, the airline axed 30% of its flights, stranding travelers across the country. Southwest fell apart again over the weekend, canceling more than 1,900 flights Saturday and Sunday. The airline's executives told employees in late September that the operation had been stable since mid-August. On-time performance, a dismal 62% in June, was back up over 80% in September. Watch Video: Southwest Airlines cancels more than a thousand flightsĪfter a rocky summer of flight cancellations and delays amid a travel surge from pandemic lows, Southwest Airlines thought things were looking up.
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