Southwest Airlines has canceled 1,044 Sunday flights as of 6 p.m. ET, far more than any other airline, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
Southwest’s 1,044 canceled flights comprise 28% of the airline’s scheduled flights, according to FlightAware. About 20% of the airline’s flights — or 734 flights — were delayed Sunday, according to FlightAware. (RELATED: Plane Crashes Into Building In Italy, All Passengers Reported Dead)
The cities that have the most flight cancellations all happen to be Southwest hubs, including Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Denver International Airport and Dallas Love Field, according to FlightAware.
American Airlines, which is based in Dallas, canceled 5% of its flights (146 flights) and delayed 12% of them (357) while Spirit canceled 4% of its flights (32 flights) and delayed 18% of them (131).
ATC issues and disruptive weather have resulted in a high volume of cancellations throughout the weekend while we work to recover our operation. We appreciate your patience as we accommodate affected Customers, and Customer Service wait times are longer than usual. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/o1scQJ5lLb
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 9, 2021
Southwest attributed the cancellations and delays that occurred Friday due to air traffic control issues and weather, according to USA Today.
“We experienced significant impact in the Florida airports yesterday (Friday) evening after an FAA-imposed air traffic management program was implemented due to weather and resulted in a large number of cancellations,” the statement said. “We are working hard behind the scenes to minimize challenges and fully recover the operation as we take care of displaced crews and customers as quickly as possible. We will continue to reset our network today and hope to return to close to normal operations as we move into Sunday.”
The FAA replied and said delays due to air traffic control issues and weather were only limited to Friday afternoon and to contact airlines for information about flight schedules, USA Today reported.
“No FAA air traffic staffing shortages have been reported since Friday,” an FAA spokesperson told FOX Business Sunday. “Flight delays and cancellations occurred for a few hours Friday afternoon due to widespread severe weather, military training and limited staffing in one area of the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center.”
Southwest has not provided a comment as to other possible reasons for cancelations and delays.