More aviation misery in the US in the coming days | News

Southwest Airlines expects it will only be able to operate about a third of its flights in the coming days. “In all likelihood, we’re going to have another rough day tomorrow,” CEO Bob Jordan said Monday night. He called the massive cancellations “the biggest scale I’ve ever seen”.

A winter storm has been ravaging large parts of the US and Canada since Wednesday evening, with record snowfall in the Midwest, Buffalo and New York, among others. Tens of millions of Americans saw their Christmas weekend ruined by massive power cuts, impassable roads and thousands of flight cancellations. Dozens were also killed.

On Monday, Southwest, which is based in Dallas, Texas, canceled nearly 3,000 flights or 67 percent of its offerings, accounting for nearly three-fourths of all U.S. cancellations, while most other flights experienced delays. That even led to criticism from the US Department of Transportation, which has an “unacceptable” amount of canceled flights and that Southwest’s service will be scrutinized. In comparison, Delta Air Lines canceled only 8 percent of its flights on Monday.

While Delta uses hubs through which it routes its connections, Southwest sticks to direct flights. In addition, there are many problems in cities where Southwest has significant operations, such as Dallas, Phoenix (Arizona), and Las Vegas (Nevada). The low-cost airline is also the largest carrier operating in Buffalo, the city hardest hit by the storm.

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