hundreds of southwest airlines mail The airline canceled flights over the Christmas weekend but said it hoped for a “full recovery” as the post-holiday travel rush begins on Tuesday.
Southwest Airlines said about 300 of its 4,242 flights were canceled Sunday due to fog at Midway, making it the airline’s fourth-largest flight in the United States. More than 100 more flights were canceled on Christmas Day, although the airline said its operations were “stable” to allay fears of a similar meltdown in 2022.
The airline also had 2,689 delayed flights, according to FlightAware data.
The cancellations occurred during and after a thick fog in the Chicago area on Sunday that caused widespread flight cancellations at Midway International Airport.
The airline said dense fog that began Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning prevented incoming aircraft from landing, forcing several diversions and subsequent flight cancellations. A ground stop was issued for all flights departing from Midway Airport Sunday morning.
“We have proactively canceled 101 flights for Monday (less than 1% of the more than 4,300 flights systemwide). We anticipate several additional cancellations.” [Monday] He is working towards a full recovery ahead of surgery on Tuesday. Our employees are working hard to serve our customers quickly and safely during this busy holiday travel season, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused to anyone whose travel has been affected over the past two days.” issued a statement. This was announced by Southwest Airlines.
As of Tuesday morning, there were no cancellations reported at Midway Airport and only three cancellations at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
The holiday disruption comes as a winter storm hit in the days after last Christmas, disrupting airline operations in historic travel disruptions that canceled thousands of flights and separated customers from their luggage. It happened one year after.
The airline blamed the 2022 meltdown on winter storms and “scheduling issues.”
But for the millions of people who travel for the holidays, this year has been much better than last. Christmas morning after a relatively uneventful weekend.
As of midday Monday, only 138 flights to and from the United States were canceled and 1,366 were delayed, according to tracking website FlightAware.
Automobile club AAA predicted that 115 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home by plane or car between Saturday and New Year’s Day. This is an increase of 2% from last year.