Southwest stocks dip amid mass flight cancellations

Southwest Airlines stock price plunged more than 4 percent after the airline company canceled thousands of flights on Monday and Tuesday.

The public company’s stock price had fallen about 4.75 percent to $34.27 per share as of Tuesday afternoon.

Several airlines canceled and delayed flights on Monday and Tuesday as a winter storm continues to impact much of the country, but Southwest alone canceled 2,500 flights on Tuesday, making up the bulk of the 2,900 cancellations for the day.

On Monday, the airline company canceled a separate 2,900 flights, or 71 percent of its scheduled flights that day.

Southwest said the winter storm slammed two of its hubs in Denver and Chicago and noted that the company did not have the capacity to reschedule thousands of the cancellations.

Southwest also could have overbooked its holiday schedule, however, and employees say the company has also failed to modernize aging communications systems, making it more difficult when things go wrong.

More flights cancellations from Southwest are expected this week.