News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Southwest Airlines forced to delay flights due to tech issues — again

FILE - Travelers queue up at the check-in counters for Southwest Airlines in Denver International Airport Friday, Dec. 30, 2022.
David Zalubowski
/
AP
Travelers queue up at the check-in counters for Southwest Airlines in Denver International Airport Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. Technology issues caused more delays on April 18, 2023, though they were less .

The Dallas-based airline asked the Federal Aviation Administration to pause its flights and the aviation authority did so. By mid-morning, the carrier resumed operations.

Southwest Airlines flights resumed Tuesday morning after nationwide delays caused by technical problems, just about four months after the Dallas-based carrier grounded thousands of flights and left millions of people stranded during the holiday season.

The Federal Aviation Authority confirmed on Twitter that Southwest requested the agency pause all of its departures as it resolved the technical issue.

Tuesday's flight freeze was brief, but it added to the picture of an airline that has struggled more than most with technology issues. CEO Robert Jordan has embarked on a campaign to repair the airline's damaged reputation.

In December, Southwest canceled nearly 17,000 flights over the Christmas holiday due to bad weather and its crew-scheduling system becoming overwhelmed. Those cancellations cost the airline more than $1 billion. The Transportation Department is investigating the breakdown.

The airline’s unions have said they warned management about problems with the crew-scheduling system after a previous meltdown in October 2021.

Southwest said last month it would add deicing equipment and increase staffing during winter weather that is cold enough to limit the amount of time that ground workers can stay outside.

Southwest explained in a statement its temporary pause of flights was due to a "firewall failure," blaming a vendor whose firewall went down and forced the loss of operational data.

The carrier said teams worked to minimize disruptions. By about 10:30 a.m. CT, the pause was lifted and Southwest's flights resumed.

Southwest spent much of Tuesday morning apologizing to passengers who lodged complaints on Twitter.

Bill Zeeble has been a full-time reporter at KERA since 1992, covering everything from medicine to the Mavericks and education to environmental issues.