DALLAS (KDVR) – “We’re sorry”: This is the main message that Southwest Airlines reiterated in an official statement Thursday after canceling and postponing thousands of flights this week.
“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 displacing customers is not what we want for you and what we should not expect from us, ”the airline tweeted on Thursday morning.
Southwest President and COO Mike Van de Ven made a statement The airline’s website states that the business interruption began on Friday and was originally caused by weather and air traffic restrictions that halted operations in Florida.
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“As a result, our planes and crews were not in their pre-planned positions to carry out our flight schedule on Saturday,” wrote Van de Ven. “Unfortunately, the misplaced aircraft and crew resources led to additional cancellations in our point-to-point network, which extended over the weekend into Monday and Tuesday.”
Van de Ven goes on to say weather and flight restrictions weren’t the cause of problems after Friday, but it took the airline several days to reset its network.
In addition, Southwest was particularly hard hit with operational problems in Florida, Van de Ven said: “Flights to and from Florida are a big part of our flight schedule, and disruptions to Florida spread because of our point-to-point flights. In fact, around 40-50% of Southwest’s planes fly through Florida every day.
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In addition, about a quarter of the Southwest Crew’s missions include at least one city in Florida. “
Van de Ven also defended Southwest employees, saying, “Despite widespread rumor and speculation, the weekend challenges were not the result of unusual activity by Southwest employees and there is simply nothing in our data to suggest that particular reason.”
Below is a statement from Southwest Airlines President and CEO Gary C. Kelly:
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