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After a disastrous week featuring thousands of flight cancellations, Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) expects Friday’s schedule to progress without the same disruptions.
“While Southwest continues to operate roughly one third of its schedule for Thursday, Dec. 29, we plan to return to normal operations with minimal disruptions on Friday, Dec. 30,” the airline said in a statement. “We are encouraged by the progress we've made to realign Crew, their schedules, and our fleet. With another holiday weekend full of important connections for our valued Customers and Employees, we are eager to return to a state of normalcy.”
According to FlightAware, the Warren G. Harding-esque projection is in-line with the data. Only 39 flights scheduled for Friday have been canceled thus far, a figure that pales in comparison to 2358 canceled on Thursday.
CEO Bob Jordan indicated in a video released amid the crisis that outdated technology was a major factor in the travel chaos seen this week. He vowed to work quickly to correct these shortcomings.
“The tools we use to recover from disruption serve us well 99% of the time, but clearly we need to double-down on our already-existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what's happening right now,” he said.
Shares of the Texas-based carrier rose 3.7% on Thursday, bouncing back from double-digit losses to start the week.
Read more on the DOT investigation into the airline.
