Southwest stock falls as airlines delay and cancel their flights
Southwest Airlines shares plunged Tuesday following the cancellation of thousands of flights by the airline. holiday travel weekend More information will be available in the coming days.
Southwest had to cancel more than 12,000 flights due to Christmas chaos caused by Winter Storm Elliott. Others airlines also called off flights but on a smaller scale.
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CRITICIZED BY PASSENGERS, TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT AS FLIGHTS DELAYED NATIONWIDE
The Department of Transportation expressed concern at the “unacceptable rates of…” [cancellations].” According to the department, it will investigate whether cancellations can be controlled and determine if Southwest is following its customer service plan.
Southwest continues to advise travelers to follow Twitter to verify their flight status as of Monday night.
Flight tracking website FlightAware Shows Southwest leads all airlineThere were over 2,500 cancellations at 9:55 am, 62% of which were flight cancellations. An additional 139 flights (or 3%) were delayed.
American, Delta, and United had higher cancellation rates, but higher percentages of delayed flight. These shares were mixed.
Over 1,600 flights into, out, or within the U.S. experienced delays. Over 4,600 flights were canceled.
Answering a query about its operations, Southwest referred FOX Business According to a media site, the airline said it is working with safety in mind to address large-scale disruptions by rebalancing the airline as well as repositioning crews.
According to Reuters, the airline said it would continue operating a reduced schedule and fly roughly one-third of its schedule for “the next few days.”
Southwest gets most of its profit from flying domestically, It relies on point-to–point service, rather than operating from large hubs like other large U.S. carriers. Its staff is at risk of being stranded if there are disruptions.
Helane Becker, Cowen analyst at Cowen, said that Southwest would likely report on the impact of the storm as it was more severe than the industry and could have an even greater impact than a normal storm.
“The other airlines had likely manageable cancellations or delays and appear to have recovered (in enough time to get everyone home).
BREAKING WEATHER NEWS | FOX WEATHER HOME OF AMERICA’S WEATHER TEAM
According to the National Weather Service, increasingly stormy weather It will affect the West Coast from Tuesday through Tuesday. Then, it will spread across the Rockies. On Tuesday, the lake-effect snows that are still downwind of Great Lakes’ Great Lakes will diminish and become less intense. The temperatures will moderate in the Midwest, East, and South this week.
This report was contributed by Reuters