Southwest operations restored after spate of cancellations

Southwest Airlines on Wednesday said that its operations have been restored after canceling thousands of flights due to air traffic control and weather issues.

“Southwest Airlines resumed normal operations today. We thank our employees for the hospitality they’ve shown our customers during this challenging time,” the company said in a statement.

“We extended our deepest apologies to Customers who have been impacted and look forward to welcoming them back on a future Southwest flight,” the statement said. 

Over the weekend, the airline canceled over 800 flights on Saturday and 1,000 flights on Sunday, disrupting weekend travel. The company attributed the cancellations to weather challenges in Florida that were compounded by air traffic control issues in the region.

Reports indicated that the disruptions seemed to only affect Southwest, as other airlines saw cancellations of no more than 2 percent of all flights over the weekend.

Alan Kasher, Southwest’s executive vice president of daily operations, apologized to employees on Monday for the “struggle that you and our customers” experienced as a result of the cancellations, USA Today reported. 

The company said Tuesday that it was expecting a more normal day of operations, with only 90 system-wide cancellations out of nearly 3,300 flights scheduled for that day.