The system dating back to the 90s was thrown into chaos when a winter storm hit the United States at Christmas.
When other American airlines got their flights back to almost normal last week after the winter storm, the customers of the low-cost airline giant Southwest Airlines were left licking their fingers.
For example, on Wednesday, 90 percent of all flight cancellations in the United States were Southwest flights, he says CNN (switch to another service). According to Flightaware, 2,500 Southwest flights were canceled on that day. For comparison, the second most canceled US company SkyWest canceled two hundred flights. On Thursday, Southwest had to cancel 2,300 more flights.
Because of the crisis, thousands of Southwest customers spent their Christmas holiday at airports across the United States.
The company’s difficulties were caused not only by bad luck but also by extremely bad planning.
The winter storm hit Chicago and Denver hard, two of Southwest’s most important destinations.
Flightaware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs told CNN that Southwest’s problems, however, have more to do with building too tight a flight schedule and not investing enough in its operations. The company’s scheduling software is said to be from the 1990s. After the winter storm hit, the system was thrown into chaos and flight crews could not be scheduled for replacement flights.
Southwest Airlines has received exceptionally harsh criticism from the US Secretary of Transportation From Pete Buttigiegwho, among other things, on the “Good Morning America” morning program, demanded that the company reimburse its customers for the Christmas holidays.
CEO of Ball Consulting Group, a company specializing in crisis communication David A. Ball evaluate For the New York Times (you will switch to another service)that Southwest has a long road ahead of it to regain consumer confidence.
– When the Minister of Transport says on TV that your company is at the point of collapse, we can talk about a crisis, he says.
According to Ball, it will take years for Southwest to rebuild its brand after the Christmas fiasco.
Southwest Airlines is the largest American airline in terms of seats.
Sources: Reuters, AFP, STT