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A logistical Meltdown at Southwest Airline
Be happy if over the weekend you were not booked on one of Southwest Airline’s nearly 2,000 cancelled flights in the U.S. On Monday, the airline continued to cancel hundreds more. According to the airline, weather caused the logjam, which was exacerbated by air traffic controller shortages.
Weather Not a Problem
A Denver-area meteorologist reported to CNBC that he had not seen the type of severe weather that would have caused massive flight delays.
Based on what I’ve seen, there didn’t appear to be any high impact weather that would’ve significantly affected Southwest operations yesterday or today.
Attempting to deflect blame, the FAA accused Southwest of not having deployed its own planes correctly.
Could there be another culprit?
Some speculate there was a pilot walkout over Southwest’s new employee vaccine mandate, effective as of last week.
As Ted Cruz tweeted:
Joe Biden’s Illegal Vaccine Mandate at Work
Suddenly we are short on pilots and air traffic controllers?
Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) Files Lawsuit
Friday’s SWAPA lawsuit asks a federal judge to “temporarily block the company from carrying out federally mandated coronavirus vaccinations until an existing lawsuit over alleged U.S. labor law violations is resolved.”
The Legal Filing (according to Bloomberg):
The new vaccine mandate unlawfully imposes new conditions of employment and the new policy threatens termination of any pilot not fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021. Southwest Airlines’ additional new and unilateral modification of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement is in clear violation of the RLA.
Southwest Airlines disagrees with SWAPA’s “claims that any Covid-related changes over the past several months require negotiation,” reports BRIGHT editors. The company will continue working with the union and keep “navigating the challenges presented by the ongoing pandemic.”
Golly gumdrops. Looking forward to traveling over Thanksgiving?
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