Southwest Airlines had a historic collapse during one of the busiest times of the year, the Christmas/New Years holiday. This week, all flights have been grounded again due to a technology issue.
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Southwest Grounds All Flights… Again
Southwest Airlines cancellations and delays started piling up again this week as the largest US domestic carrier shut down its operations to fix a firewall issue. This is the second time in less than five months that technology has caused the airline to suspend its flights and withdraw. Fortunately, this one was resolved in a matter of hours, rather than the week-long disaster that occurred at the beginning of the year.
While delays affected 44% of Southwest’s operations, relatively few flights were completely canceled.
When is Southwest Serious about Technology Issues?
Southwest Airlines and its management have been kicking the can on technology upgrades for so long that it has not only caused operational disruption but has become a question of executive-level decision-making. As some may remember, Southwest does not fly redeyes because until 2017, the reservation system did not allow it to do so. Even with Hawaii’s expansion, the flights are only daily which offers an interesting change of pace for some travelers, but almost all other flights to the mainland are intended to fly overnight due to time change from the US Pacific time zone. The lack of redeyes is now a cultural preference but its roots lie in ancient technology.
The danger of Christmas and New Year would have been the crossbow that the Southwest needed. The DOT stepped in with strong words and Southwest cut checks back to consumers, picked up hotel tabs, and gave free miles to the tune of more than $700 bn to fix the event.
Some consumers were still damaged, because they were forced to buy a walk-up ticket at the counter of another airline that was not covered by their voucher or reimbursement. The entire airline system absorbed most of Southwest’s passengers initially and then slowly returned them to Southwest over the next few days as operations got a handle on the situation.
The issue of the firewall and ground stop for all the aircraft is not the end of the world, but for the Dallas-based behemoth it shows that the problems continue in other areas of the operation and that the IT matter has not been resolved.
Southwest enjoyed nearly four decades without a quarterly loss before the pandemic. The airline rejected government funding because it had cash to weather the storm and didn’t want its hands tied by the terms of the deal. They continue to spend a lot of money and financial instruments to update the core technology of the business and it is important that they do so, however problems arise again.
Will the DOT be penalized?
The Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, indicated that there will be consequences for planes that cause more crashes in the future. This incident probably does not qualify as a major disruption, but a good relationship between the department and the airline will undoubtedly be tested again.
I doubt the Secretary will stand against Southwest on this particular occasion, but the fuse is likely to be shortened even more for future events.
Conclusion
All major carriers have technology issues to contend with. However, Southwest continued to seriously struggle and put the airline in the spotlight for performance issues again. If airline management doesn’t act faster and more decisively for technological change to keep passengers moving and airplanes flying, their hand may be forced – if not by the Department of Transportation, then by those shareholders.
What do you think? Is Southwest taking strong action to overcome its technology issues? Can you imagine booking it based on its ability to operate?