By Luke Gentile, Social Media Producer
Southwest Airlines’s string of flight cancellations has cost the airline at least $75 million, the company announced on Thursday.
Southwest canceled more than 1,000 flights earlier in October, and the bill consisted of cancellation fees, customer refunds, and goodwill gestures, according to a company press release.
Flights had reportedly been canceled due to inclement weather, but the problem was soon exacerbated by staffing challenges.
The airline will schedule out flights for the rest of October but announced it would cut down on December flights to mitigate the chances of a similar situation.
The schedule for 2022 will be built on “more conservative staffing assumptions,” Southwest said.
Holidays should offset any problems for the remainder of 2021, the airline added.
“There are lingering effects from the summer COVID-19 surge and recent operational challenges, we are encouraged with renewed momentum in leisure and business traffic, revenues, and bookings — especially over the holidays,” said CEO and Chairman of Southwest Gary Kelly in a release.