Southwest Airlines has on Sunday cancelled more than 1,000 of its flights, which makes about 27% of its schedule.
According to them, the mass cancellation which affected travel plans of thousands of its customers was due to disruptions from traffic control issues and bad weather.
According to Alan Kasher, the authority in charge of daily flight operations, “We experienced significant impact in the Florida airports after an FAA-imposed air traffic management program was implemented due to weather and resulted in a large number of cancellations.”
Southwest in a statement issued an apology to travelers for long customer service waits. According to the statement, it hoped “to return to close to normal operations as we move into Sunday.” It added, “to return to close to normal operations as we move into Sunday.”
Staffing shortages has fueled hundreds of cancellations at Southwest over the summer. The airline had trimmed its schedule after the summer to avoid further disruptions.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees air traffic, didn’t immediately issue any comment.