Southwest Airlines Cancels More than 1,800 Flights Over Weekend

Over 1,000 of the Southwest Airlines flights across airports, roughly 27 percent of scheduled flights, were cancelled by the Dallas-based airline on Sunday.

October 10, 2021

Southwest flight seen in the sky — Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images
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Southwest Airlines has cancelled more than 1,800 flights over the weekend, citing air traffic control issues and bad weather, according to NBC News.

Over 1,000 of the flights, roughly 27 percent of scheduled flights, were cancelled by the Dallas-based airline on Sunday.

“We experienced significant impact in the Florida airports [Friday] evening after an FAA-imposed air traffic management program was implemented due to weather and resulted in a large number of cancellations,” Alan Kasher, who oversees daily flight operations, wrote to staff on Saturday.

Friday afternoon saw a “few hours” of delays due to weather and staffing issues at Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center, a location that oversees airspace in five sections of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

“No FAA air traffic staffing shortages have been reported since Friday,” the FAA said. “Some airlines continue to experience scheduling challenges due to aircraft and crews being out of place. Please contact the airlines for details about current flight schedules.”

Southwest, which cancelled 808 flights alone on Saturday, according to FlightAware, hopes “to return to close to normal operations as we move into Sunday,” according to a stetement, as its locations in Denver, Baltimore, Dallas Love Field and Chicago Midway were among the hardest hit.

“We are working hard behind the scenes to minimize challenges and fully recover the operation as we take care of displaced Crews and Customers as quickly as possible,” Southwest said in a statement.