Passengers check in for a Southwest Airlines Co. flight inside Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, on August 10, 2022.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Southwest Airlines‘ chief operations officer is scheduled to face questions from a Senate panel on Thursday over the carrier’s December meltdown that stranded 1000’s of passengers over the vacations.
Andrew Watterson plans to apologize for the travel chaos before the Senate Commerce Committee. The president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, Casey Murray, will tell the panel that the carrier ignored warning signs about its operation, based on written testimony reviewed by CNBC.
Southwest has said it canceled greater than 16,700 flights between Dec. 21 and Dec. 31. The problems began with severe winter weather across the U.S. however the carrier lacked the technology to maintain pace with the many flight changes, prompting the airline to scrap most of its schedule for several days to reset its operation.
The chaos pushed Southwest to a loss within the last quarter, costing it $800 million in pretax earnings.
The incident capped a 12 months of chaotic travel for a lot of passengers as airlines struggled to ramp up to fulfill a rebound in demand. Pressure on the industry has grown over the past 12 months while some lawmakers and the Biden administration are searching for stronger consumer protection.
The pilots union, which is in contract negotiations with the corporate, in addition to the flight attendants’ union, have warned about scheduling problems for years.
“Warning signs were ignored. Poor performance was condoned. Excuses were made. Processes atrophied. Core values were forgotten,” Casey Murray said in written testimony ahead of Thursday’s hearing.
Southwest’s COO plans to defend technology improvements for the reason that debacle in December and others within the works. Its executives have said its crew rescheduling software wasn’t designed to handle so many cancellations that occurred up to now, but its provider, General Electric said it has delivered updates to Southwest that the airline is testing.
The hearing is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET, but a Senate briefing on the Chinese balloon that the U.S. shot down last weekend will likely delay questioning.
