Airlines continue to cancel flights to U.S.
2022.12.27 07:37
Airlines continue to cancel flights to U.S.
Budrigannews.com – (NYSE:) Southwest Airlines On Tuesday, Co was the leading U.S. airline to cancel flights as the low-cost carrier struggled to recover from the harsh winter weather that ruined many holiday plans.
After canceling 2,503 flights on Tuesday at 5:50 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) and another 2,474 on Wednesday, the Dallas-based airline’s shares were down 3.4% before the bell, according to FlightAware, a tracking website.
In the days leading up to the Christmas holiday weekend, an arctic blast and a massive winter storm known as Elliott swept across a large portion of the United States, causing Southwest to cancel more than 12,000 flights since Friday. Flights have also been canceled by other airlines, though on a much smaller scale.
In contrast to other large U.S. airlines, Southwest focuses more on point-to-point service rather than operating out of large hubs, which results in the company making the majority of its profits from domestic flights. Because of this, staff members run the risk of being stranded in the event of disruptions.
In a note, Cowen analyst Helane Becker stated, “We expect Southwest to call out the impact (from the storm) as it was worse than the industry and likely hurt earnings more than a ‘normal’ storm.”
“The other airlines probably had cancellations and delays that were manageable, and they actually appear to have recovered”
“For the next several days,” Southwest stated on Monday, it had decided to maintain a reduced schedule by flying roughly one third of its schedule.
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The U.S. Transportation Department has been looking into the airline’s problems. Late on Monday, it said it would look into the large number of canceled and delayed flights in recent days to see if they were under the airline’s control and called them “unacceptable.”
As of Tuesday morning, more than 5,000 flights for Tuesday and Wednesday had been canceled by U.S. airlines.
