Southwest Airlines suffered another reputational blow on Tuesday after technical issues forced the company to briefly ground all flights nationwide, leading to more than 2,400 flight delays.
The delay in departures caused airport traffic to back up from Denver to New York City, and came just four months after Southwest suffered a much larger crisis during the Christmas rush.
In a statement, the carrier blamed Tuesday’s outage on “data connection issues due to a firewall failure,” adding: “Early this morning a supplier-supplied firewall went down and the connection to some operational data was disconnected. unexpectedly broken.’
The Federal Aviation Administration said it had issued a nationwide ground stop for all Southwest flights at the airline’s request while it resolved the technical issues. The flight ban was lifted in the middle of the morning.
While the latest disruption was much less severe than the massive meltdown Southwest experienced in December, it raised questions about CEO Robert Jordan’s vow to upgrade and modernize the airline’s systems to avoid such disruptions.
Southwest Airlines suffered another reputational damage on Tuesday, after technical issues forced the company to briefly ground all flights nationwide
In a statement, the carrier blamed Tuesday’s outage on “data connection issues due to a firewall error,” adding: “Early this morning a vendor-supplied firewall went down and some operational data was disconnected unexpectedly. ‘
During the December crisis, more than 17,000 Southwest flights were canceled in the space of 10 days after the airline said its crew scheduling system collapsed under the weight of disruptions caused by a major winter storm.
The cancellations ruined holiday travel plans for more than two million people and cost the airline more than $1 billion.
The carrier upgraded its systems in the wake of that debacle, saying in a March 14 press release that improvements were being made.
Asked if the latest disruptions were related to the tech upgrades, Southwest did not immediately respond after hours on DailyMail.com on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s disruptions resulted in just 18 flight cancellations, similar to other major airlines, according to FlightAware data.
However, 2,404 Southwest flights were delayed, representing 57 percent of the airline’s schedule for the day, causing annoyance and inconvenience to passengers.
The disruption contributed to Southwest’s reputation as an airline that has struggled with technology issues more than most.
Rob Britton, a former American Airlines executive who teaches crisis management at Georgetown University, told the Associated Press that damage from Tuesday’s incident will be minor but will add to the tarnishing of Southwest’s image.
He said Southwest has underinvested in technology while growing rapidly, suffering from an “insular culture” that “prevents them from looking outside for solutions.”
Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst with Atmosphere Research Group, told the AP Tuesday’s incident “will have no long-term impact on Southwest’s reputation.”
“It is now about Southwest finding the cause and doing everything possible to ensure that incidents like this do not happen again,” said Harteveldt.
Unlike other major airlines, Southwest does not use commercial crew scheduling software, instead relying on proprietary systems built and maintained in-house called SkySolver and Crew Web Access.
Insiders say the programs hang and go down on a regular basis, forcing crew members to call for route assignments during disruptions, according to the Dallas Morning Herald.
Southwest Airlines planes were grounded for more than an hour on Tuesday due to a technical issue with the airline’s firewall systems, leading to more than 1,900 delays and cancellations
At 11:10 a.m. — after about an hour and a half — the FAA lifted the pause, writing in a vague statement that Southwest had “experienced a technical issue” with one of its systems
The December collapse led to an ongoing investigation by the Department of Transportation and a congressional hearing in which lawmakers complained that Southwest provided little or no assistance to stranded travelers.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who presided over that hearing, said Tuesday’s outage “is yet another demonstration that Southwest Airlines needs to upgrade their systems and stop the negative impact on individual travelers.”
The airline’s unions have said they have warned management about problems with the crew scheduling system following a previous meltdown in October 2021.
CEO Robert Jordan has launched a campaign to repair the airline’s damaged reputation.
Southwest said last month it would add deicing equipment and deploy more staff during winter weather cold enough to limit the amount of time navvies can stay outside.
Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. fell nearly 1 percent on Tuesday, while its closest rivals — American, Delta and United — all gained at least 1.5 percent.