Southwest Airlines Plans to Cut Flights As It Suffers from Staffing Problems

Southwest reported that the carrier lost $75 million from its cancelations earlier this month. To prevent a similar event from happening again, Southwest decided to cut back on its scheduled flights. Southwest announced that its December capacity will be reduced to 92% compared to the same month of 2019. Two years ago, the airline planned to fly 95% of its schedule for December.

From October 8 to October 13, the airline canceled more than 2,000 flights blaming a variety of issues. Among problems included Florida’s weather, air traffic control issues, and staffing shortages. The airline sent an apology to its customers along with goodwill flight credits.

The airline on October 8 canceled more than one-third of its scheduled flights while American Airlines only canceled 16% and Spirit Airlines only canceled 6%.

Conservative Schedule to Address Staffing Problems

According to CEO Gary Kelly, the airline’s 2022 flight schedule will be playing it safe. He said that the 2022 schedule “reflects more conservative staffing assumptions”.

On Thursday, the airline announced its third-quarter profit at $446 million. The airline was able to hit record profit partially because of the federal aid and employees who took a voluntary leave of absence when the pandemic happened.

Kelly said that “Our active (versus inactive) and available staffing fell below plan” causing the airline to experience operational problems.

This isn’t the first time this year that Southwest had to cut flights. The airline first cut flights in August after operational problems and complaints from employees that felt exhausted.

Employees Didn’t Walk-Off

There were speculations online that the flight cancelations earlier this month were due to employees walking off the job. Republican Senator Ted Cruz even tweeted that the cancellations were the “vaccine mandate at work”. A Southwest spokesperson later debunked these claims calling the rumor “inaccurate” and unfounded”.

Southwest Airlines Pilot Association president Casey Murray later issued a statement. Murray said that “We can say with confidence that our pilots are not participating in any official or unofficial job actions”.