ORLANDO, Florida. – Southwest Airlines issued a statement on its Thursday Travel problems lately, said it was caused in part because Orlando International Airport was closed for seven hours late last week due to the weather.

Southwest later changed the letter from President and COO of the airline Mike Van de Ven, who said OIA has been closed for several hours, not seven.

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Storms sweep through central Florida on Friday, but it’s unknown if OIA has been closed for hours. News 6 has asked the airport for a comment but has not yet received a response.

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The airline said it would not be able to fly in or out of Orlando while the airport was closing.

“About a quarter of the Southwest Crew’s missions involve at least one city in Florida. One of our largest crew bases is at Orlando International Airport, and that airport was closed to departing and arriving air traffic for several hours on Friday – preventing the flow of planes and crews into the network, ”the statement said.

Southwest has canceled thousands of flights Earlier this week, leading to speculation that the airlines’ most recent COVID vaccination mandate resulted in a “sick note” from pilots and staff. the However, the airline and the pilots union deny this claim.

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Five days after the cancellations began, the airline said it was largely back on schedule.

No other airlines have suffered similar setbacks in the past week.

In his letter, Southwest apologized for the delays and flight cancellations and promised to make changes to avoid similar problems in the future.

There is a lot to be said about the events of the past few days, but let’s start with the most important message: we are sorry. Canceling thousands of flights and crowding out customers is neither what we want for you nor should you expect from us. https://t.co/NSBotfqdkm pic.twitter.com/pM9TINNq0Q

– Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 14, 2021

Below is the full letter from Southwest:

I would like to elaborate on the operational challenges we have faced lately and provide an explanation of what happened. But first let me start with our sincere apologies to everyone whose journey has been disrupted by these events: We are really sorry.

The disruption began on Friday and was initially caused by weather and air traffic restrictions that brought our operations in Florida to a standstill for many hours. As a result, our planes and crews were not in their pre-planned positions to carry out our Saturday flight schedule. Unfortunately, the failed aircraft and crew resources resulted in additional cancellations on our point-to-point network that spanned the weekend and into Monday and Tuesday. Weather and air traffic restrictions weren’t an issue after Friday, but it took us several days to rebuild our network after the initial challenges.

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Despite widespread rumor and speculation, the weekend challenges were not a result of unusual activity by the Southwest Employees, and there is simply nothing in our data to suggest that particular reason. Our staff worked heroically amid these adverse conditions, and many came on days off or flew extra trips to help the airline recover. I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation for their tireless work and commitment in the service of our customers.

I’m sure you’re curious why Friday’s challenges impacted Southwest more than other airlines. First off, flying to and from Florida is a huge part of our flight schedule, and because of our point-to-point flights, disruption to Florida quickly spread through our network. In fact, around 40-50% of Southwest’s planes fly through Florida every day.

Additionally, about a quarter of the Southwest Crew’s missions include at least one city in Florida. One of our largest crew bases is at Orlando International Airport, and that airport was closed to departing and arriving air traffic for several hours on Friday, preventing the flow of planes and crews into the network.

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We have said several times that the pandemic is unprecedented and extremely complex – it was messy to get involved in and it is messy when we are struggling to get out of it. For the future, our main focus is on hiring more employees – with the aim of hiring more than 5,000 by the end of the year and having already achieved 50% of the target.

In addition, we continue to evaluate possible changes to the network timetable to reduce operational risks while we go on vacation. There is certainly more to be done in November and our teams are eager to get that job done to keep it running reliably.

Here, too, it is clear to me that every attempt at an explanation does not correspond to our ultimate goal of getting you to your destination on time with our typical Southwestern hospitality. They expect and deserve better customer service from us, and we are committed to making the necessary adjustments to meet those expectations.

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We do our best to proactively contact customers whose travel plans have been affected to apologize and invite them to give us one more chance to earn their business. When customers need assistance from Southwest, they can conveniently use one of the airline’s self-service options or Contact us about one of the on. listed methods Southwest.com.

I’d like to thank our employees, and especially our frontline employees, who have worked around the clock to help customers affected by these challenges. They are our real heroes.

Finally, I would like to once again sincerely apologize to all of the customers affected over the past week and humbly invite you to give us another chance to make it up to you on your next trip.

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