Southwest Airlines flight cancellations continue into Monday

By DAVID KOENIG

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines canceled hundreds much flights Monday pursuing a play of large work disruptions.

By precocious greeting Monday, Southwest had canceled astir 365 flights — 10% of its docket for the time — and much than 600 others were delayed.

The Dallas-based hose blamed aerial postulation power issues and atrocious upwind for play “operational challenges” that resulted successful 1,900 canceled flights connected Saturday and Sunday.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which provides aerial postulation power services, took the antithetic measurement of pushing backmost against Southwest’s explanation. Southwest Airlines was the lone hose to study specified a ample percent of canceled and delayed flights implicit the weekend.

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. concisely fell much than 4% connected Monday earlier a partial recovery; they were down little than 2% by precocious morning.

The wide disruptions began soon aft the national for its pilots asked a national tribunal to artifact the airline’s bid that each employees get vaccinated against COVID-19. The national said it doesn’t reason vaccination, but it argued successful a filing Friday that Southwest indispensable negociate earlier taking specified a step.

As the scope of Southwest’s operational meltdown became wide implicit the weekend, the pilots’ national denied reports that pilots were conducting a sickout oregon slowdown to protestation the vaccine mandate. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said it “has not authorized, and volition not condone, immoderate occupation action.”

The national offered different explanation: It said Southwest’s cognition “has go brittle and taxable to monolithic failures nether the slightest pressure” due to the fact that of a deficiency of enactment from the company. The national complained astir the “already strained relationship” betwixt it and the company.

The White House has pushed airlines to follow vaccine mandates due to the fact that they get paid nether national contracts, making them taxable to President Joe Biden’s bid that national contractors necessitate vaccination among employees.

United Airlines was the archetypal large U.S. bearer to denote a vaccination requirement. Southwest had remained soundless adjacent aft Biden announced his bid for national contractors and ample employers. Finally past week Southwest told employees they indispensable beryllium afloat vaccinated by Dec. 8 to support their jobs. Workers tin inquire to skip the shots for aesculapian oregon spiritual reasons.

Savanthi Syth, an airlines expert for Raymond James, said the play problems volition summation Southwest’ costs and worsen the company’s strained relations with unions.

Southwest has struggled each summertime with precocious numbers of delayed and canceled flights. In August it announced it was trimming its September docket by 27 flights a day, oregon little than 1%, and 162 flights a day, oregon 4.5% of the schedule, from aboriginal October done Nov. 5.