Southwest Airlines is planning for its schedule to “return to normal” on Friday, the company said in a statement.
The big picture: Southwest passengers have been suffering from a travel nightmare with thousands of cancellations and bundles of lost bags.
Driving the news: The airline said Thursday it is “eager to return to a state of normalcy” on Dec. 30 with “minimal disruptions” ahead of another busy holiday travel weekend.
- “We are encouraged by the progress we’ve made to realign crew, their schedules, and our fleet,” the airline said.
- Employees are working “around-the-clock” to help customers and crew members, the company said.
- “Our crews are showing up in every way throughout this challenge,” the airline said. “We’re grateful for the heroic efforts of all our people to serve our customers.”
By the numbers: Southwest had at least 2,360 flights canceled as of Thursday evening, about 57% of its operations, according to FlightAware data. Another 194 flights were delayed.
- There were more than 2,300 Southwest cancellations on Wednesday and thousands more earlier this week.
- Southwest has canceled more than 15,000 flights in the past week, according to a Wall Street Journal tally.
What’s next: Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan apologized publicly for the travel nightmare, saying the carrier will look to help customers who suffered from delays, cancellations and lost baggage.
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