Southwest Airlines has announced it will add additional staffing to monitor winter weather and has also made major software changes.
The airline issued this statement:
Dear Valued Rapid Rewards® Members,
For many travelers in the final weeks of 2022, holiday plans were disrupted by an epic winter storm that impacted airline travel across the nation. A weather event that affected all carriers became a winter preparedness and Crew network event unique to Southwest Airlines®. Not only did we let you down, we also let down our People who heroically serve you.
Following these events, we conducted a thorough internal review, working with our Board of Directors, and engaged respected aviation consultancy Oliver Wyman for a third-party assessment. From that work, we have identified key root causes of the event and developed a conclusive action plan to address them.
Key root causes:
- Winter operations: Insufficient winter infrastructure and equipment in key airport locations, in addition to staffing challenges from the need to rotate Employees outside in bitter winter weather conditions, hindered our ability to keep our Crew networks flowing in the face of Winter Storm Elliott’s scale, velocity, and duration.
- Cancellation waves: The pace and volume of close-in cancellations forced our aircraft and Crew Scheduling Teams to rely on time-consuming manual processes that could not keep pace with the volume of individual scheduling issues.
- Cross-Team collaboration: Compartmentalized communications and gaps in our process between important operational workgroups resulted in bottlenecks.
Our action plan:
- Improving winter operations: We are reinforcing airport infrastructure, increasing the availability of winter equipment, and bolstering our overall preparedness for extreme winter conditions.
- Accelerating operational investments: We are investing in technology and tools that will improve our recovery during irregular operations.
- Enhancing cross-Team collaboration: We are enhancing the way our Teams work and communicate together to streamline decision-making.
Click here to read the specific actions we are taking in each category.
With this plan in motion, we can move forward and focus on continuing to deliver the reliable operation, high-quality Customer Service, and legendary Hospitality that Southwest is famously known for. We are already off to a great start in 2023, holding the number two spot in on-time performance year-to-date through March, and remain thankful for your continued support of Southwest.
We look forward to seeing you onboard again soon.
Sincerely,
Bob Jordan
President & Chief Executive Officer
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