Over 2,300 Southwest Flights Canceled Thursday—But Weekend Looks Promising

Topline

Southwest Airlines has canceled just a small number of weekend flights as of Thursday, a sign the budget airline is on its way to recovery after it called off thousands of trips this week amid mass disruption.

Key Facts

Southwest canceled just 39 flights on Friday and has not yet canceled flights for Saturday, according to air travel tracker FlightAware.

The airline canceled over 2,300 flights on Thursday, or 58% of its flights, and over 2,500 flights Wednesday, or 61% of its schedule.

The airline said Thursday it plans “to return to normal operations with minimal disruptions on Friday, Dec. 30” and are “encouraged by the progress we’ve made to realign Crew, their schedules, and our fleet.”

Key Background

Winter storms across the country hindered travel across much of the country last week, leaving airline employees like pilots and crew members out of place. While other major airlines were quicker to recover from the mess, over 15,000 Southwest flights have been canceled since December 22. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan apologized Tuesday to customers, blaming it on the severe weather issues and his airline’s “complex” systems. However, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday, “we are past the point where they could say this is a weather-driven issue.” Buttigieg pledged the Department of Transportation will hold the airline “accountable” and get refunds for customers who were affected. Jordan said Southwest would fly on a reduced schedule while it sorts out the mess, and predicted it would be back up to speed next week.

Further Reading

Southwest Chaos: Buttigieg Says Airline Is Facing ‘System Failure’ As Thousands Of Flights Are Canceled (Forbes)

Southwest Stock Plunges: Flight Cancellations Top 10,000 As Feds ‘Examine’ Airline’s Historic Winter Storm Woes (Forbes)