Funviralpark Southwest Airlines is one of America’s largest airlines. Ltd.
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More than 30% of flights were canceled on Friday, one of the worst hit by a severe storm that brought snow, wind and sub-zero temperatures to much of the United States this week.
Southwest Airlines vice president of flight operations Lee Kinebrew said in a message to employees Friday night that the storm's effects could deepen as Southwest Airlines faced an unforeseen onslaught of weather-related challenges. said it had become difficult to get operations back on track.</p><div> <p>The airline troubles continued on Saturday. Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said Saturday that last night's disruptions at three of the Southwest's largest airports have cleared plans for Saturday. Airlines have scrubbed about 30% of their scheduled flights, according to FlightAware.
Mr. Watterson cited unexpected fog in San Diego and a fuel supplier shortage in Denver. The airline's efforts to keep planes in Dallas overnight to relieve pressure at airports further north also added new tensions there, as the added workload led to backup arrivals requiring gates. was created.
“All of this has resulted in many crews finishing behind schedule or being out of place. That is why from today crews are still resting and other crews are losing their positions and we have decided to cancel additional cancellations. I had no choice but to do it," he wrote.
Watterson wrote that airlines are planning to cut operations at some airports on Saturday night in hopes of easing stress on their networks and starting in a better position on Sunday.
Persistent frigid temperatures and lingering ice in some areas have created challenges for other airlines as they try to bounce back, even as weather conditions improve in some areas.
delta airlines<span class="company-name-type"> Ltd.</span>
It said most of the snow had passed, but equipment froze in some places and other restrictions on normal ground operations resulted in cancellations.Alaska Airlines Group<span class="company-name-type"> Ltd.</span>
Freezing rain in Portland, Oregon, continues to hamper operations, it said on Saturday.The weather improved in Seattle, but the previous day's ice storm left hundreds of planes and crew behind, slowing recovery. Delayed. JetBlue Airways<span class="company-name-type"> Ltd.</span>
The company said in a memo that flight attendant absenteeism has increased and that it has tripled wages for flight attendants who undertake business trips.
But the Southwest, which has a big presence in hard-hit cities like Denver and Chicago, said it faced a very big impact this week. Unlike some of its larger rivals with hub-and-spoke networks, the Southwest's planes hop from city to city, so problems can ripple.
The airline tried to cancel flights late Wednesday afternoon ahead of Denver weather, Kinebrew wrote. Southwest Airlines said it had not been shown and expected it would be safe to operate the full flight at Chicago's Midway International Airport until late Thursday afternoon.
Conditions changed rapidly. Kinebrew wrote that high winds and heavy rain made it difficult to keep the runways and ramps safe. On Thursday morning, the airline found some of its jets in Denver frozen overnight. It was inoperable until noon. A rolling blackout by a Denver natural gas company made it difficult to refuel aboveground equipment.
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Heavy snow, high winds and near-zero visibility caused by what is known as the bomb cyclone disrupted flights and other travel heading into the holiday weekend.
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Heading into Friday, the airline tried to keep the plane in a warm place overnight to get the auxiliary power unit up and ready to start the day, Watterson said in an earlier reminder to employees. said in the message.
Other unforeseen problems arose, Kinebrew said. Hydraulic lines at Midway froze, rendering some gates nonfunctional, leaving Midway and Nashville, Tennessee, with insufficient space for deicing. Frozen tires and congealed fuel gave me headaches. A leaked fuel line near Los Angeles meant that flights to airports in the area had to bring in extra fuel.
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