Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,800 flights the day after Christmas, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
The canceled flights account for approximately 70 percent of Southwest’s schedule.
“With consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network behind us, continuing challenges are impacting our Customers and Employees in a significant way that is unacceptable,” Southwest said in a statement. “And our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning.”
The statement continued, “we were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. These operational conditions forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity.”
“Overall, around 3,900 flights were canceled within, into or out of the U.S. on Monday, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. Southwest had 2,893 flights canceled at one point Monday, roughly 70% of its schedule, according to the site,” NBC News reports. “Delta had around 300 and United around 130.”
Amid the massive chaos, Southwest announced that it would continue to fly just one-third of its schedule for the coming days.
“This safety-first work is intentional, ongoing, and necessary to return to normal reliability, one that minimizes last-minute inconveniences. As we continue the work to recover our operation, we have made the decision to continue operating a reduced schedule by flying roughly one third of our schedule for the next several days. And we’re working to reach Customers whose travel plans will change to offer specific information and available options.”
“On the other side of this, we’ll work to make things right for those we’ve let down, including our Employees,” the statement concluded. “With no concern higher than ultimate Safety, the People of Southwest share a goal to take care of each and every Customer. We recognize falling short and sincerely apologize.”