The chief executive of Southwest Airlines has apologized for the holiday season disruptions which saw more than 15,000 flights canceled across the United States, stranding passengers and leaving many behind. interference to find his luggage.
“I am extremely sorry”, Bob Jordan Told ABC News Friday morning. “There’s just no way you can almost apologize enough.”
The Dallas-based airline recorded just 41 canceled flights on Friday, down from nearly 2,400 the previous day. While the cancellation figure was still higher than United, American and Delta combined, it represented progress after one of the most chaotic weeks for a single airline in aviation history. Jordan said Southwest has a “big operation” with more than 3,900 flights on the schedule.
Asked about the reason for the “collapse”, which began under a huge winter storm last week, Jordan said the “unprecedented” weather problems had taken their toll on all airlines.
Pressed further, he said: “The storm had an impact but we had impacts beyond the storm.”
In response to complaintsparticularly from the flight attendants union, that the near collapse was the result of outdated technology and ignore Repeated calls for change, Jordan said the company “is making investments in our operational areas.” He did not recognize the problem of advance warning of employees.
“There will be lessons to be learned from this and we will continue to make more investments,” he said.
Jordan also said Southwest would reimburse passengers for canceled flights as well as costs for hotel rooms, car rentals or other flights. Many frustrated passengers have faced exorbitant prices other airlines as they rushed to register their travel plans.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Southwest would be survey on the debacle, focusing on outdated scheduling technology.
Jordan told ABC he was “aligned” with Buttigieg, who in a letter to Jordan Thursday night called the disruptions “unacceptable.”
“While weather can disrupt flight schedules, the thousands of cancellations by Southwest in recent days are not due to weather,” the Transportation Secretary wrote. “Other airlines that suffered weather-related cancellations and delays due to the winter storm recovered relatively quickly, unlike Southwest.”
On ABC, Jordan was asked about calls for his resignation, as well as other executives. The Managing Director, who has been in office for less than a yeardeflected the question.
He said: “There will be a lot of big lessons to be learned from this, in terms of what we can do to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
He added: “It touched so many people, so many customers, over the holidays. This had an impact on our employees. And I’m extremely sorry about that. There’s almost no way to apologize enough because we love our customers, we love our employees, and we’ve really had an impact on their plans.
South West leaders said it could take up to a week to connect all passengers to their destinations.
The airline industry is still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. Jordan said the holiday slump would “certainly” hit the South West when it reports fourth-quarter results in late January. Stocks, which have fallen 8% this week, appeared to stabilize on Friday.
Buttigieg has also be subject to scrutinyfor allegedly ignoring the warning signs of poor airline relations with consumers.
Ro Khanna, a progressive Democratic congressman from California, highlighted a letter sent to Buttigieg by Bernie Sanders in June, in which the Vermont senator outlined issues facing the airline industry, including flight delays, cancellations and high prices.
Sanders also called for tough fines and provisions for prompt refunds to passengers.
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