Regional airline SkyWest canceled hundreds of flights on Thursday and Friday. According to Skywest, it was due to an “internal technical issue” that caused the problem. However, Skywest announced that the problem was fixed on Thursday evening even if the delays and cancellations lasted until Friday. On Friday, a representative from SkyWest said that “We apologize to customers for the inconvenience”.
SkyWest operates with partnerships with United, Delta, American, and Alaska airlines. This Utah-based regional carrier usually has planes that cater to less than 100 passengers.
Partner Airlines Affected
According to a statement, the airline canceled 700 flights. And as of Friday afternoon, the airline canceled 500 flights and recorded another 430 delayed flights.
The operational woes affected Skywest’s partners on Thursday and Friday. United canceled 12 flights and had 122 delayed flights.
Delta Air Lines said that “Our technical teams engaged with SkyWest IT to resolve the issue and minimize the impact on our customers”. Delta added that “We are working with customers directly to accommodate them to their destination as soon as possible”.
Alaska Airlines, on the other hand, canceled 80 flights on Thursday and 52 on Friday. A statement from Alaska said that “We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused for our guests”. Alaska added that “We’re providing services to them as we work to get impacted travelers to their destinations as quickly as possible”.
American Airlines canceled 9 flights and had 328 delayed flights. American announced that it re-accommodated passengers and provided hotel vouchers.
In August, American Airlines had its share of widespread flight cancelations and delays. At that time, American announced that it was because of a “prolonged severe weather event in Dallas Fort-Worth”. However, an internal flight list showed a different story. There were 231 flight cancelations due to pilot shortage and just 40 flights cancelations were due to weather issues.
SkyWest Flight Cancelations and Delays Persist
SkyWest suggested that passengers should check their flight’s status first before going to the airport since cancelations and delays persist. The carrier said that “We are working to minimize the impact on Friday’s schedule and to return to normal operations as quickly as possible”.
