If you’re flying somewhere for Columbus Day, don’t be surprised if you encounter any delays or cancellations, especially if you’re flying with Southwest Airlines.
The Dallas-based airline company canceled over 1,000 flights on Sunday alone, according to flight-tracking website, Flightaware.com. Several flights were also canceled at San Antonio International Airport, though the airline couldn’t provide a total number.
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As of 1:00 p.m. CT, Southwest has canceled 1,018 flights with an additional 438 flights being delayed. This is an increase from Saturday, when the airline canceled 808 flights, according to Flightaware.
The reason? The airline says it’s due to issues with air traffic control and disruptive weather.
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
Data shows other airlines have also had cancelations, but not near as many as Southwest. Flightaware reported American Airlines had 63 cancellations, Spirit Airlines had 32 cancellations and United had 9 cancellations as of 1:00 p.m CT Sunday.
Due to a lack of cancellations among other airlines, this leads some to believe the rise in cancellations could be the result of a staffing shortage with air traffic control.
However, The Federal Aviation Administration said there have been no air traffic staffing shortages since Friday.
No FAA air traffic staffing shortages have been reported since Friday.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) October 10, 2021
Flight delays & cancellations occurred for a few hours Friday PM due to widespread severe weather, military training, & limited staffing in one area of the Jacksonville en route center.
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Southwest has encountered many issues with operations so far this fall season, according to a report from USA Today. The airline is still reportedly working to get operations back on track and is hiring more workers to alleviate a staffing shortage.
The airline issued this statement to KSAT in response to the cancellations:
“We experienced weather challenges in our Florida airports at the beginning of the weekend, challenges that were compounded by unexpected air traffic control issues in the same region, triggering delays and prompting significant cancellations for us beginning Friday evening. 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.
We’re working diligently to accommodate our customers as quickly as possible, and we are grateful for their patience. We’re offering customers added flexibility to explore self-service rebooking options on Southwest.com, where they can get updates on the status of their travel. We know the frustration flight cancellations are creating for our customers and Employees and we apologize, and we again thank everyone for patience as we work first to be safe, and second to be as quick as possible in solving disrupted plans.”
We’ll bring more updates to this story as they become available.
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