HOUSTON – Hundreds of flights across the U.S. were delayed Tuesday morning as Southwest Airlines struggled with “intermittent technology issues.”
“As a result of the intermittent technology issues that we experienced, we should hopefully be resuming our operation as soon as possible,” a representative for Southwest wrote in response to a Twitter user’s complaint of a “nationwide grounding.”
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we’re hoping to get everyone going ASAP,” the spokesperson, identified on Twitter as Jeni, said.
As of 10:06 a.m. CST, more than 1,500 flights, or 36% of Southwest’s schedule, were delayed, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware.
“When I book my own travel, I’m not doing this again,” Jacky Frawner, a delayed Southwest Airlines passenger at Hobby Airport, said.
Another spokesperson told a Twitter user that the airline implemented a ground stop as a result of “intermittent issues.”
“We have had to implement a ground stop as a result of intermittent issues that were experienced, and we should hopefully be resuming our operation as soon as possible,” the spokesperson, identified on Twitter as Katy, wrote.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the airline requested the pause in departures due to an “internal technical issue” and added that the ground stop had ended.
“Southwest Airlines pause on departures has been fully canceled,” the FAA said in a statement. “Earlier this morning, Southwest requested that FAA pause Southwest departures due to an internal technical issue at Southwest.”
Southwest’s public relations team said the airline resumed operations after temporarily pausing flight activity “to work through data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure.”
“Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost. Southwest Teams worked quickly to minimize flight disruptions. We ask that travelers use Southwest.com to check flight status or visit a Southwest Airlines Customer Service Agent at the airport for assistance with travel needs. We appreciate the patience of our Customers and Employees during this morning’s brief disruption.”
“I think Southwest has to do more. I think it’s going to take a lot of work to regain that trust in their systems among their employees and among their customers,” Joshua Verde, a Houston-based Aviation expert, said Tuesday.
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