As chaos at Southwest Airlines brought misery to thousands of frustrated travelers and growing scrutiny from U.S. regulators and lawmakers, many in the aviation industry said the massive cancellation of flights by the nation’s largest domestic carrier was far from surprising.
Industry experts and union leaders for Southwest employees cited the company’s outdated technology and vulnerable operations, both of which are particularly susceptible to any disruptions, much less multiple coast-to-coast weather events.
“This was the perfect storm,” William McGee, a senior fellow focused on aviation for the American Economic Liberties Project. “Other (airlines) dealt with this and came back from this; Southwest was sort of brought to its knees. It deserves to be blamed for not being more resilient.”
Of the more than 3,000 flights canceled Tuesday across the U.S., about 85% were Southwest‘s, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Thousands of the airline’s passengers were stranded in airports across the nation — not to mention its crew members. In California, hundreds of flights have been delayed or canceled through the end of the week — making up much of the Southwest schedule.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said this week it plans an inquiry into the source of the airline’s massive problems.
Although the company acknowledged delays and cancellations and blamed most of the headaches on bad weather, leaders have offered little explanation or plans for relief.
“Our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning,” the airline said in a statement. “We recognize falling short and sincerely apologize.”
Michael Santoro, vice president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Assn., said Southwest has failed to invest in an updated software system used for flight routing and staffing, which is crucial to avoid continual problems.
“The catalyst was the big storm,” Santoro said in an interview. “But our internal software can’t handle massive cancellations. The company hasn’t invested the money into scheduling infrastructure to support the network they have developed.
“So pilots are calling in asking, I’m done with this flight — where do I go next? Am I running another plane? Do I spend the night here? And pilots are on hold for hours trying to figure out what to do next.”
The cancellations are expected to continue. Southwest Chief Executive Bob Jordan told the Wall Street Journal the airline planned to operate at around one-third of regular capacity as it tries to regroup and get the schedule back on track.
“This is not hyperbole, I’ve never seen an airline meltdown of this size and magnitude,” said McGee, who has worked in and around U.S. airlines for almost four decades.
Although McGee and union leaders pointed directly to technology shortcomings for the unprecedented delays this week, experts said they could also be due in part to the way Southwest does business. The U.S. airline giant has no partnerships with other airlines to assist with rebookings, it operates with few open seats or backup crews and its unique flight patterns — running from destination to destination instead of in and out of certain hubs — leave little room for error, meaning delays can quickly spiral.
“They just keep domino-ing and cascading,” McGee said. “It will take weeks to try to just accommodate all the people who have been displaced.”
Southwest’s flight patterns mean that “if one flight is canceled or delayed, it’s going to make a mess for everyone the whole day,” said Brian Sumers, editor of the Airline Observer newsletter. “It’s a complicated airline.”
